


Mythicals

by ScreamHoney



Series: The Forgotten, the Forsaken, and the Forged [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Harpies, M/M, Mermaids, Merpeople, Mythical Beings & Creatures, One Piece Big Bang 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-08 03:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6837877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScreamHoney/pseuds/ScreamHoney
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mermaids! Harpies! Gorgonas? Oh my....</p><p>Cannon Divergence. </p><p>The Whitebeard Pirates need to get there hands on a mermaid and soon. No other Mythical can lead them to the fabled Fountain of Youth, which they need to keep their Old Man from dying too soon. When they finally convince a merman to show them the way, they are surprised by the merman's older brothers. A genetically impossible male Harpy, and a creature that was said to have gone extinct over 20 years ago, a Gorgona.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mythicals

**Author's Note:**

> Well this is my entry for the One Piece Big Bang...it was technically supposed to be out on the 10th but I got distracted...(I turned 21 on the 12th, and my finals ended on the 10th but shhhhhh) 
> 
> My artist partner is the lovely Sunrise Flame, and as soon as she posts her works I shall link them in :) 
> 
> Anyway please enjoy?
> 
> *EDIT: 05-18-2016*  
> Art by Sunrise Flame!!

*EDIT: 05-18-2016* Art added by the lovely [Sunrise Flame](http://sunriseflame.tumblr.com/post/144469405042)!!!

 

“Wow!! You really saw a Medusa?!” a loud voice echoed throughout the large pirate ship and there were several smiles alighting faces at the loud exclamation.

“Haha! You bet, Luffy! Three of ‘em in fact. Beautiful set of sisters they were, scary hair, but totally gorgeous!” a boisterous man in a chef’s jacket was chatting next to a large clear glass tank placed in the middle of the deck.

Inside of the tank was the most incredible creature, a skinny boy from waist to head, but with a vibrantly red fish tail that was easily twice the length of his torso. The fin was a mix of oranges and reds that mixed together in feathery flourishes as he flipped the limb to keep himself floating. His ears were finned, much like the tail that was swirling around in the tank, and flowing slightly with his slightly long black hair. He had scaled claws where there should be fingers, and his dark eyes were enhanced with slitted pupils.

“Shishi! Awesome! You met Hancock!” the creature, Luffy, smiled and showed off his sharp saw-like teeth, something that would look terrifying on anyone other than the young creature.

“Han-who?” the chef questioned, his face scrunching in confusion as he looked at Luffy.

Luffy swam around the tank, laughing quietly as the gills on his neck flexed, changing from breathing in the open air to underwater. He flicked his tail, causing a wave of water to splash over the rim of the tank that soaked the chef all the way through his clothes.

The man sputtered and looked at the creature, Luffy, with an almost comical look of betrayal.

Luffy popped back up from under the water and giggled louder at the now wet man.

“That’s cause you’re silly, Thatch. Hancock saved me once from some hunters! She turned them to stone! It was awesome!”

The creature’s sharp teeth made another appearance as he smiled at the man outside the tank.

“That’s no reason to soak me! Damn kid, we tell you stories all the time but we hardly get anything out of you **about** you!”

Thatch was shaking out his arms and hair to try and dry them before he catches a cold or something else equally ridiculous that Izou would criticize him about. Damn tantalizing not-Okama.

“I’m not supposed to! It was one of the rules!” Luffy replied with a smile before he abruptly turned to send a wave of water at Namur walking by. Mostly just to watch the other mythological move it off the ship. It was always fun for Luffy to see the other side of his species work.

Thatch meanwhile was doing a double take, ignoring his poor drooping hair in favor of determining what exactly might have meant about “not being allowed”.

“Wait-what rules?” Luffy, however, ignored Thatch’s sort of hysteria in favor of splashing Namur again.

“Luffy!”

“Woah, Thatch. Calm down, yoi. Don’t yell at the kid. It can’t be that urgent.” The blond first mate of the Moby Dick laughed as he strode over to his friend, and Luffy’s tank.

Thatch turned toward the man so fast the other could hear the chef’s neck crack. The blond winced at that slightly, knowing the red-head would likely feel that pain later.

“But-but! Marco! Luffy just said he had rules! That’s why he won’t tell us anything about himself!”

Thatch was mildly upset; he’d been trying to get Luffy to talk about himself since they picked the merman up almost two weeks ago. The fact that the hyperactive kid wasn’t saying anything due to **rules** bothers him a lot.

“Oh? Really, yoi? That explains a bit then.” Marco remarked calmly, not at all affected by what by what was an earth-shattering revelation to Thatch.

“And besides, yoi. Other than sating your curiosity, we don’t get anything out of knowing Luffy’s background. He’s already taking us to the Fountain, yoi. Isn’t that the important thing?”

Marco laughed at Thatch’s looked of utter betrayal before the look was splashed away by another wave of water from Luffy’s tail.

Said creature popped up over the water in his tank, propping his arms on the rim, he smiled down at Marco and Thatch with his razor teeth glinting in the high noon sunlight.

“Wow! You’re so serious Marco!”

The blond man laughed in turn, his smile easily taking up the majority of his face.

Thatch looked at his brother with wide eyes before he switched back to look at Luffy with scrutiny.

“Of course, Luffy. We’ve been looking for the Fountain for years! You’re the first mer-person we could convince to show us the way, yoi.”

At this point Thatch threw up his arms and stomped off, mumbling under his breath about cryptic mythologicals and evil siblings.

“You could have just taken one of us though. You don’t need merfolk cooperation to find the Fountain, not if you know enough.”

Marco blinked at Luffy, surprised by the hyper kid’s cynical view on pirates capturing mer-people. That was not something he would have thought possible for such a seemingly innocent creature.

“We couldn’t have done that, yoi, especially not with Namur as part of our family. Also, it’s always best not to get on the bad sides of mythologicals, yoi. They can make life pretty painful.”

“Shishishi. That’s totally true of harpies and furies too! They hold some serious grudges! Sabo is still angry about the hat incident! Shishishi!” Luffy laughed loudly, his tail slapping the water near the top of his tank.

It was Marco’s turn to look at Luffy with confusion. As far as he knew mythologicals were very secular when it came to different species within the mythological community. So why was Luffy talking about others like he actually knew the other species?

Marco didn’t ask any of that though, knowing Luffy would look at him confused and say something completely irrelevant.

“Who’s Sabo?” the blond questioned instead, curious despite telling Thatch the opposite.

Luffy let out a strangled sort of gasp before he slapped his finned hands over his mouth and sunk down to the bottom of his tank, turning away from Marco and curling his tail around his head in a curl; refusing to say anything.

Marco just looked at the curled form of the merman with confusion, wondering what just happened.

But the man put it out of his mind easily enough. Luffy was pretty weird to begin with and compared to other things he’s done, since he was brought on deck, this one doesn’t even scratch the surface.

“Doesn’t matter, yoi. I’ll send Pops up for your story a day promise, alright?”

A wave from the almost blood red tail was enough for the first mate, who walked back to the door leading to the lower deck. Maybe Pops will get something new out of the young creature. He often did most days.

**-This is a line-**

Sabo is a male harpy by birth, something that caused him to be kicked out of his flock when he was young. He was sort of rescued by a group of mythologicals that tend to “kidnap” other mythologicals.

He has never thought badly of the collective though, for “kidnapping” him, because otherwise he’d never have met his brothers. One of whom, Ace, he was on the way to visit.

Despite being a genetic anomaly amongst the all-female race of harpies, Sabo looked like a fairly typical mythological scourge of the sky.

His torso was that of a human male, toned and pale skin interrupted by pink-red scars covering his left side in random splotches, burn scars. His head was also human looking with longish shaggy blond hair and another burn scar over his left eye.

But that’s where his human characteristics end. His teeth were sharp and similar to Luffy’s but slightly longer and thinner, made to rip flesh off of the bones of his victims, which were mostly sailors. His arms from where the elbow should be, down to his “hands” was nothing but feathers and wings, the specific color of those feathers being a mix of dark and light blues.

Matching his wings, his lower half from his hips down were feathered thickly, ending just below his “knee” where the feathers become naked talons, large, sharp, and perfect for plucking up his prey.

Overall Sabo was a paradigm of a dangerous predator, especially his proclivity to staying above the clouds before swooping down and snatching his prey before anyone could notice.

Something that added to his dangerous make-up was his keen eyesight that could see a fish in clear detail from over three hundred meters high. Which were currently focused on something that just had to be a hallucination.

There was no way Sabo’s younger brother, his only younger brother, was trapped in a glass tank on the deck of what was obviously a pirate ship.

Nope Sabo had to be seeing things. He just visited Luffy two weeks ago, shared a great catch of a male sailor. They talked about visiting Ace together soon and sharing a similar large meal.

Luffy had found himself a reef, near an island inhabited solely by mythologicals. That’s where he was, he was making his home in the beautiful reefs off the Going Merry Island with its patchwork population. He certainly wasn’t in a watery cage on the top deck of a bloody pirate ship.

Luffy was NOT captured by pirates.

So despite knowing that Luffy was safe in his new reef, Sabo flew a little closer to the large ship; feeling like he should confirm his thoughts, just in case, and not because he actually believed it was Luffy in that tank.

But upon flying closer, Sabo’s heart sunk to his talons, his pulse slowed down and he blinked rapidly. He tried to make the connections but he was so dumbfounded he had actually stopped flapping and was in danger in dropping straight in to the ocean without his merman brother to save him.

He regained control of his wings with that sobering thought, hovering in the air as it fully registered in his mind.

That WAS Luffy in the tank.

His brother, his BABY brother, had been captured by pirates and was being held against his will.

Sabo was off before he could blink again, flying as fast as he could, knowing it was well over half a day’s journey to where he was headed when he was flying leisurely. And this was not a leisure trip.

He didn’t stop for anything, not even when he flew too low and a sailor glanced his shoulder with a bullet. Sabo didn’t even stop to eat the human for a snack in vengeance. He just shrugged the wound off and kept flying at almost break neck speeds, images of a captured Luffy constantly flashing in his mind.

It was almost a never ending slew of pictures that threw themselves across his mindscape. Some true, others imagined, but the protective brother in Sabo didn’t care, all he KNEW was that his ONLY younger brother was being held by pirates and that meant certain death for merfolk.

The blond harpy was physically knocked out of his negative thoughts when he rammed face first into a rock face; or, more accurately, into the side of Big Brother Ace’s active volcano home.

 _‘Well that will certainly get his attention.’_ Sabo thought as he shook his head, trying to dispel the rapidly firing thoughts and regain his flying balance.

He was proven correct seconds later when his brother floated carefully out of the mouth of his rather tall volcano home.

When dark eyes locked with blue, Sabo’s cautious brother lit up with happiness, the feeling practically radiating from his every pore.

Sabo had to take a second to fully process the sight of his brother. It was always something he had to re-register with Ace being the last living Gorgόna in existence.

He was always a very attractive being, one a gangly young Sabo once envied because Ace seemed to skip the awkward stage between child and adult. But the blond realized early on that Ace shouldn’t be envied, he was the last of his kind and as such he didn’t have anyone to guide him through the oncoming of the Gorgόna traits. And while Sabo didn’t have anyone either, he at least had the accounts of other harpies. Ace’s parents didn’t leave him a manual and before Ace they were the last two.

But either way, Ace was still as exotic and beautiful as he was the last time Sabo saw him, almost a moon ago now.

His face was just as human-looking as Sabo’s was, though with some more obvious differences. Ace’s pupils were slitted like Luffy’s were, his ears were pointed and long, extending a bit past his skull and fading from tan to bright red at the tip. His teeth were sharp and pointed; a mix between Luffy’s and Sabo’s, but he also had flat teeth in the back, which he showed the blond once and explained they were there for chewing fire; a concept that Sabo still considers odd to this day.  

But the most beautiful and wonderful thing about Ace is, and always will be, his lovely tail of fire.

He looked so similar to Luffy, as a merman, but his “tail” was formed entirely out of fire. Sure there were bones underneath all of that fire, but the only time those were ever visible was when he was close to death. From his hips down was a dangerous weapon that caused humans to hunt down Gorgόnas and drive them to extinction.

He was positively good-looking to Sabo.

“Sabo!” Ace exclaimed happily as the Gorgόna floated closer and wrapped his arms around the harpy’s waist, so as to not disrupt the flapping wings, probably.

“What are you doing here? I didn’t know you were coming for a visit! I would have collected a human for dinner if I knew!”

Ace’s exuberance caused Sabo to briefly forget why he was there and just smile stupidly at his gorgeous brother.

“Did Luffy come with you?”

Sabo had never sobered so fast in his life. He floated like a love sick drunk around Ace, except when their baby brother was there or even mentioned. Their baby brother that was currently the captive of a human pirate ship.

Priorities, Sabo.

“That’s actually why I’m here, Ace. This is so bad.” Sabo couldn’t keep his voice stable as he spoke to Ace, his worry for Luffy outweighing anything that might happen between him and Ace.

The Gorgόna’s face went from excited to serious just as swiftly as Sabo’s did. Nothing to make them more serious than something being wrong with Luffy. They were so similar it was scary sometimes.

“What? What is it? Do we need to be in the volcano? The shack?” Ace spoke quickly, his ferocity making the questions come out faster than he was normally capable of speaking.

“We have no time for that, Ace. We need to go! We have to help him!” Sabo was so worried and concerned that he forgot that Ace had a habit of making everything in to the worst case it could possibly be.

So he shouldn’t have been surprised that Ace clutched Sabo’s shoulders like the blond was the one who did something to Luffy.

“What. Happened. Sabo?” the Gorgόna’s angry voice sent a shiver down his back causing goosebumps to appear on his skin.

“Luffy’s been captured by pirates.” Sabo released in a breath, unable to stop himself from being so blunt in light of Ace’s attractive anger.

“He’s what?” Ace’s voice was breathless and disbelieving. Sabo had to fight to keep his mind from running away from him. Luffy. Luffy. Luffy.

“Captured! I saw it on my way here. I didn’t think it was him at first, not with how over protective the crew on Going Merry is. But it was! He was in a huge glass cage in the very center of the deck! A ship that was flying a Jolly Roger! He was captured by pirates!”

Sabo was almost hysteric, something he never thought possible with his logical mind. But it was hard to remain calm when one’s baby brother has been captured, and possibly tortured, by blood thirsty **pirates**.

For once though, Ace was remaining rather level-headed for how hot-headed he normally was. A light slap to the cheek was all it took to shake Sabo out of his uncharacteristic worry.

“Where? Can we get there?” Ace questioned quietly, shifting his body down to wrap his hands around Sabo’s talons.

Ace couldn’t fly long distances, hell he could hardly float for very long or he would risk hurting himself. Fire wasn’t constantly recreating itself after all.

“If we fly at normal speeds it would probably be half a day’s travel. If you give me a few minutes to rest my wings and propel us along every now and then we could cut it to half that. We’d get there around dusk probably.”

Ace was nodding at him as his tail flickered between the normal red-orange and a darker crimson color. Unhappy Ace is unhappy.

Sabo said nothing more as he floated down to the outskirts of the volcanic island, tucking his wings in as he settled for a short break. He didn’t want to delay rescuing Luffy any more than Ace did after all.

“Let me get you some water, Sabo.” The Gorgόna spoke quietly, floating off to the shack he kept just for these kinds of visits from Sabo and Luffy. Well, without the kidnapping aspect…

The inside was a nice roost for Sabo, one he greedily claimed as often as he could during the year. And close to the shack was a reef Luffy planted himself for his own visitations. The _All-One_ **(1)** knew they couldn’t survive in Ace’s volcanic home, so they made due.

Said fire-y brother floated back with a large bowl filled to the brim with water. Ace held it out to Sabo, not wanting to splash any while also conscious of not getting it on his tail. Fire and water didn’t mix for a very GOOD reason.

Sabo drank hastily, still worried about Luffy. When he finished the bowl he lightly picked for the feathers that broke or were otherwise tendered useless on the flight here. Extra weight, no matter how small would be bad.

He also took the time while Ace was putting away the bowl to check the wound he got from the glanced bullet and smiled when he just saw a faint pink line. Thank Chopper and his medicinal blessings.

A few fluffs of his wings and a long stretch then had Sabo in the air once more, swinging down to snatch his brother up by his shoulders.

The elder had long since gotten used to Sabo’s no warning pick-ups and was hardly phased by it. Ace simply wrapped his hands around the sharp talons before blasting his tail up a time or two to accelerate them every so often.

Unlike the flight **to** Ace’s, which seemed to take forever, the trip back to the pirate boat seemed to have taken no time at all.

“How are we going to do this, Ace?”

“What do you mean how? We are going to go down there and rescue Luffy!” Ace huffed out, looking up at Sabo with a glare. Sabo sighed in response. He loved Ace, he really did, but damn was he impulsive.

“We can’t just fly in there with tails and talons swinging! We have to plan!” Sabo yelled back, fluttering his wings to hide the two behind a passing cloud.

“Sabo. Either you take us down there and help me fight those bloody pirates to rescue Luffy, or I’ll make you drop me and do it myself.” Ace growled, baring his teeth at his blond brother. Sabo sighed again and flexed his wings, angling them down.

“Hold on tight, Ace, we’re gonna have to dive.”

Ace tightened his grip on Sabo’s talons, grinning evilly at the thought of all the pirate ass he was going to kick.

Sabo just knew instinctively that this was not going to turn out well.

**-THIS MAY JUST BE ANOTHER LINE-**

Marco laughed quietly to himself as he tried to stop Luffy from yelling after Pops. The kid didn’t want to stop at just one story today. But a promise was a promise so Pops refused to say any more and laughed loudly as he headed back below deck.

The old man was walking a bit slower than normal and Marco couldn’t have been happier they got Luffy to agree to show them the way to the fountain when they did. Pops needed the fountain water soon, as no one was prepared to lose him just yet.

“Relax, Luffy. Pops’ll be back to tell you another story tomorrow, yoi.”

The merman pouted as he used his amazing tail to splash even more water on the already soaking deck.

Marco wasn’t proud of it but he was completely fascinated by Luffy’s tail. Not only was it an amazing muscle, but it was such a shade of red and orange that it seemed to be a tail made of fire. But he was also fascinated with how un-humanlike Luffy actually was.

When Namur first explained the differences between Fishpeople and Merpeople Marco had classified them in his mind as monster-looking and human-looking. Luffy completely destroyed that misconception.

Not to mention the kid was interesting as sin. Not in a “hey sexy” kind of way, but more of an “I’ve never seen something like this before and it intrigues the hell out of me” kind of way. Either way, Marco liked the kid, and unlike Thatch, he was patient enough to wait the merman out of whatever might be hiding.

Luffy whined in Marco’s direction, trying to splash him with more water, when Marco noticed that they needed to refill the tank again otherwise Luffy would be facing some dangerous circumstances.

The first mate sighed at the childishness of the mysterious Mythical, but smiled as he headed to the door Pops just went inside. His aim was to fetch more of his siblings to help cart buckets to fill the brat’s tank.

However, right before Marco even touched the door handle there was a loud thud sound from behind him, and Luffy let out a surprised yell.

It took the blond barely a moment to pull his sword and shout the warning of intruders. He turned around just as fast as he yelled and paused at what he saw.

On the deck, right next to Luffy’s tank, were two other Mythicals.

One looked to be a male harpy? Did those even exist? Weren’t they all females?…odd…and the other Mythical…the other Mythical was a…fire merman??

Marco hardly got a chance to try and figure out where these two came from, and what exactly they were, when a loud screech reached his ears.

Instinctively the first mate raised his hands to cover his ears from the sound and that was his first mistake.

The male harpy flew straight at him and kicked the side of his head with a huge talon. Marco lurched to the side and was barely able to keep his balance, **and** block the next kick that came at him.

Razor teeth chomped right in front of his face as he leaned back, opening his mouth to yell for assistance once more.

Rapid thuds were heard, and Marco knew he’d have some good back-up soon so he retaliated against the harpy, swinging his sandaled foot around to catch the harpy in the torso, smirking as a pained squawk came out of the Mythical’s mouth.

However Marco didn’t even have time to digest his short victory before a wall of flame was suddenly coming at him.

A leap back probably not only saved him from some nasty burns but also his life.

“What the ever loving hell?!!”

That voice could only belong to Thatch and Marco couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh. He might be able to take on one Mythical by himself, but two was really pushing it.

“Is that a male harpy?”

And the chef brought Izou with him, doubly good.

There was another loud screech and the “fire merman” swung his tail around, his body being held up by his own arms as he did so.

Damn. This Mythical had one toned upper body.

“Δώστε μου πίσω τον αδελφό μου! (Give me back my brother!)”

Marco stopped moving at the growling voice and just stared at the creature it came from. What the hell did he say? What did he want? Why were the two Mythicals attacking their ship?

“Bloody hell kid, stop trying to light the ship on fire!!”

And Thatch was attacking the “fire merman”. Not that Marco could truly blame the chef. Moby had been their home for years, and they’ve never taken kindly to any damage to her, from other pirates or anyone else.

A loud screech came from the harpy, who was now in the air, as it swooped towards Thatch, sharp claws out and open and ready to rend the chef to pieces. Luckily Izou was there to watch the idiot’s back and the harpy was parried with the cross-dresser’s sword.

It didn’t seem to faze the harpy though; he just flew back up and tried again, screeching all the while.

“Sabo! Ace! What are you doing here?”

The happy yell came from Luffy, and Marco just sort of looked at the merman dumbfounded as he smiled at the two attacking strangers…the kid knew these brats?

“Εξοικονομώντας , dumbass! (Saving you, dumbass!)” The harpy screeched actual words this time. At least that was what Marco was assuming the sounds were, considering he understood the last word. The harpy’s sharp teeth were bared at the pirates now swarming the deck, floating closer to the merman in the tank as he did so.

“Shishishi!” Luffy’s unique laugh echoed across the deck and once more Marco was dumbfounded. The merman **did** know these two…but how?

The harpy was now over Luffy’s tank, the whole of the Whitebeard Pirates, barring their captain, was on the deck, and the “fire merman” was flicking his flaming tail of death at anyone who even dared to get close.

“Wait wasn’t that the name Luffy mentioned earlier, yoi? A Sabo with a grudge?” Marco wondered out loud to himself as he and his siblings surrounded the merman’s tank along with the two intruders.

“θα συναντήσετε πίσω στο χώρο σας , Ace. (Meet you back at your place, Ace.)” the harpy spoke quietly, the “fire merman” and Luffy both tilting their heads as they listened. What was that language anyway? Marco had never even heard it before…

But the blond first mate hardly had any time to contemplate anything else because suddenly the blond harpy had wrapped his talons gently around Luffy’s shoulders and was flying up with him.

Marco was ashamed to say he freaked out just a little. The intruder was making off with their guest who was their only chance to save Pops’ life. So he did the only thing he could do, pulled his pistol and aimed right at the escaping harpy.

Again his plan was foiled as the fire-tailed menace jumped on him, sharp pointed teeth bared at him, fire tail swishing dangerously as Marco fell on his ass due to the extra weight.

It took a few seconds but the first mate had a swift plan to grab on to the rising Mythical, to keep him from escaping too and ruining their chances completely. But nothing seemed to be going right for the man today because now there was a cannonball that landed right in the center of the deck, shocking pretty much everything.

“Zehahaha! Give me the merman and no one has to die!”

Marco froze at the words, turning towards the door to the lower deck.

Teach was there, crooked smile stretched across his face and a look of absolute greed accompanying it, gun in the air as he gestured to the ship that was firing at them.

Fuck.

A mutiny…on a day like this…at a time like this…

Marco was ticked.

First Luffy was being a mysterious little shit, then two random Mythicals appear, one stealing Luffy, the other lighting Moby on fire, and now Teach was mutinying. Not happening.

The blond pushed the flailing fire-tailed Mythical off his lap and aimed his gun square at Teach’s left pectoral, aiming to seriously wound but not kill. No. Killing would let the piece of filth have an easy escape and Marco was not going to let that happen. Oh no. Not when the bastard had been part of their family for YEARS and now seemed to have no problem betraying them.

Of course the cockroach dodged last minute and only got hit in the shoulder but it was enough for Marco who lunged at the bigger man.

Marshal D Teach may be bigger than Marco, but the blond was the first mate of the Moby for a damn good reason, and it had nothing to do with him being with Pops the longest.

Out of the corner of his eye, Marco was keeping watch of the others fighting off the incoming cannon fire as well as the few peons that somehow boarded the ship to fight with them. Teach obviously went for quantity over quality with his mutineers because the others were having no issues batting them away like flies.

Somewhere around the fourth punch to the traitor’s messed up face, Marco noticed that the fire-tailed menace was still on the deck. He was lying down and unmoving, and he couldn’t help but wonder if the black-haired kid was dead. Hopefully not, because Luffy wouldn’t ever lead them to the Fountain if he thought the Whitebeard Pirates had killed what he thought was his friend.

The brief moment of distraction seemed to be all Teach needed to knee Marco off of him and limp over to the now quite battered enemy ship, calling the retreat sign as he went. All of it happened too fast for Marco to truly do anything to stop him but it was fine. He knew they’d run into the traitor again eventually, but right now he needed to make sure the fire kid was okay.

As he stood the first mate holstered his pistol and ruffled his slightly singed hair as he took in the chaos around him.

No one seemed to be critically injured, and there were only two holes in the deck from cannon fire, a surprising fact to say the least. But what was once Luffy’s tank was blown to pieces, and all the water was rushing overboard.

That was fine at least; they had an extra tank down in storage in case the young merman broke his. It always paid to be prepared so when they found Luffy again they’d at least have another tank for him to make residence in.

Marco walked over to the strange Mythical that was still lying on the deck, and not moving, rubbing the side Teach had kneed him in as he did so. For such a big man the mutineer sure was oddly limber.

Standing over the strange fire-tailed Mythical, the first mate couldn’t help but admire the figure.

He was cut, that was for sure, and he had a nice face. His teeth were pointed, as were his ears, his nails were sharp and he had small scars littered across the upper part of his body. And despite trying his best, Marco could not stop his eyes from trailing down to the tail.

A tail of fire…how…amazing…

“What should we do with him, Marco?” Thatch spoke quietly as he came up from behind his brother, Izou following shortly behind with a slightly shorter kimono due to singed edges…when the kid woke up it was going to be to an earful from the pretty man; **that** was for sure.

“Let’s put him in one of the holding cages on deck, yoi. Maybe the male harpy will come back with Luffy to look for him.” Marco responded, tilting his head to the wide open set of bars they had installed years ago for any captives.

Huh. This would be the first time they actually got to use it.

Thatch lifted the Mythical carefully; mindful of the tail of fire that was emitting quite the high amount of heat.

Marco watched his brother walk carefully to the large enclosure, making sure that if the Mythical did wake up that he’d be able to protect the chef at a moment’s notice.

However, despite his worries, the transfer went off without a hitch and that made him narrow his eyes. After everything else that went wrong today it seemed impossible that this would go smoothly. But it did.

Marco couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

The rest of his siblings didn’t seem to share the same horrid feelings though, as they immediately all started to crowd around the large cage, regardless of the fact that some of them really needed to be in the infirmary.

However the blond just shrugged, knowing his siblings were super curious about the Mythical they had never seen before. Even Namur was hovering over the knocked out stranger with a mix of curiosity and slight fear. Why would he be looking at the kid with fear?

Marco approached the cage as well and smiled a bit at all the chatter that was being thrown between siblings.

“Do you think it’s a fire nymph?”

“Are you stupid? Fire nymphs are always female, and more human-shaped!”

“Yeah but all harpies are supposed to be female but look at the one that was just here!”

“He could have been something else!”

“Well I think it’s a fire fae!”

“Don’t be a dumbass, no one has ever seen a fire fae!”

“No one has seen **any** fae!”

“That doesn’t mean they don’t exist!”

“I never said they didn’t!”

“You sure did imply it you ass weave!”

“What did you call me?!!”

Marco sighed as he approached the cage, frowning as he noticed that the tail that was huge and flaming was now a quite a bit smaller and merely flickering every now and then rather than lashing out. Was the Mythical okay? Was it hurt somehow?

He raked his eyes down the now twitching body again, frowning as he noticed a large bruise forming on the human-like abs. A very large circular bruise. Was the strange intruder hit with one of the incoming cannon balls?

The blond leaned in a bit closer, trying to inspect the wound without getting too close, and was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t notice that the twitches were getting more and more frequent.

It was a bit too late when all of a sudden the pretty freckled face tensed, all the muscles in the body following suit. Marco’s gaze switched from the abdomen to the face just in time to see the interesting slitted pupils as the eyes snapped open.

The narrow pupils quickly scanned all directions before they landed solely on Marco. He was going to smile, to reassure the Mythical that they meant no harm when the once faltering fire-tail lit up in a blazing inferno.

Jumping back, Marco shielded his eyes as the unknown Mythical pivoted on his arms to swing his raging tail around, once more lighting the deck on fire.

At first he wasn’t really worried, it was just one portion of the deck, and it would go out easily enough, but then the fire started to **spread**. The intruder was swinging his tail back and forth, like he was fanning the flames.

That just simply wouldn’t do.

Already the carpenter team was going to have to replace quite a few wooden boards; Marco hardly wanted to add any more to their work load.

The issue was easily solved with a quick look at Namur, who understood what Marco was trying to convey within seconds.

A quick tense of the fishman’s shoulders and a tight pull from back to front had a small wave of sea water rising over the railings and onto the deck, dousing flames as it traveled to the other side and back into the waiting embrace of the ocean.

Normally Marco would love to watch his brother control the normally uncontrollable sea, but with the water on the deck came a shriek of fear from their new guest.

Looking back at the captive Marco was stunned to see him holding on to the top of the cage with white-knuckled hands, tailed lifted up as high as it could go from the water.

What on earth?

Before the first mate could even try and diffuse the situation, and calm the scared Mythological down, those dark slitted eyes locked with his bright blue eyes and he seemed to be frozen in place.

“Προσπαθείτε να με σκοτώσει! (You are trying to kill me!)” The Mythical screeched in his weird language, looking at Marco with such a look of utter hate that the blond had to step back a little.

“Hey now, don’t worry, we just don’t want you to burn down the Moby, yoi.” Trying to placate the other seemed like the best idea at the time, so Marco spoke with the softest and least threatening tone that he could.

Didn’t seem to do much good as suddenly the Mythical dropped his lower jaw, showcasing all of his really quite sharp teeth, and a few flat ones, the harshest sound any of them have ever heard coming from the stranger’s throat.

It was unlike anything he had ever heard before and it made his head **hurt**.

His siblings were all in the same boat though, all of them clutching at their ears, to try and stop the noise from coming in. But when some dropped to their knees it seemed none of them were doing too well at that part.

Suddenly it stopped and Marco looked up at the Mythical from his own kneeling position, eyes glistening slightly with excess water. The scream had made him hurt so bad that he couldn’t decide if his body wanted to throw up or faint.

Unfortunately neither was really an option as the dark-haired Mythical was now slamming himself into the bars of the cage, tail flaring every now and then with bigger flames.

Was he using the fire to propel him? Was he controlling it? Was his tail just not on fire? Marco had so many questions, the first and foremost, despite all his curiosities, was just what Mythical is this kid?

A loud thud slapped Marco right out of all his musings as the fire-tail slammed again into the bars, bright red liquid splattering onto the ground in front of the kneeling blond.

“Oi oi! Stop it, yoi! You’re gonna hurt yourself!” Marco yelled, struggling to stand without any support, his mind still rattling from the harsh screech.

The Mythical completely ignored Marco’s words, ramming again and again into the bars that surrounded him. The blond didn’t want the “fire merman” to hurt himself, especially not if he was friends with Luffy in some way.

Just as Marco was contemplating the idea of letting the other go, the door to the bunks below slammed open.

 Marco looked back at the noise and almost let out a cry of relief, holding himself back to just an almost silent sigh.

“Pops, yoi.”

**-Hey look! Another BLOODY LINE!-**

Sabo was very, very, **very** worried. They had successfully rescued Luffy and that was a reason to be grateful, despite the lack of a plan, but there lies the issue.

Ace hadn’t shown up yet.

He should have been here long ago. **Χώρο** was their code for the nearest island, despite it having actual meaning. It’s been over two hours now and Ace should have been here in less than five minutes…but he’s not.

“Sabo!”

Luffy called for him and Sabo smiled. Ace should be okay, and at least Luffy was safe and not trapped at the whims of pirates…even if Ace might now be in his place.

Ugh. It was all so confusing.

“Sabosabosabosabo!” Luffy called again from the little cove Sabo had dropped him in, flopping his tail around and splashing water as he did so.

“What’s up, Lu?” Sabo sighed out as he flew over to his little brother, trying hard to set his anxieties to rest as he did so.

“Ne, why did you fly off with me? Why did you and Ace fight with Marco-pineapple and everyone?” Luffy blinked up at Sabo with wide eyes and the harpy landed, a bit lopsided because of how off-guard his little brother had gotten him.

“Wh-who?” Sabo questioned, looking into Luffy’s eyes with no hesitance.

“Marco, Thatch, and them! Why did you attack them?” Luffy’s tail slapped the water harder, showing just how irked he was. Sabo simply couldn’t figure out why!

“They captured you, Luffy! They were keeping you captive! Like hell Ace and I could just leave that alone!” Now Sabo was angry as he flapped some wind into his younger brother’s face, hoping to shake some sense into the little turd.

“I wasn’t captured! I went willingly!” the merman screamed out, lifting his upper body out of the water to slap a wave into Sabo’s face.

“What?!” Now Sabo was wet and angry. His stupid little brother!

“The old man promised me stories!”

“Luffy!”

“They’re really cool and about pirates!”

“Luffy!” Sabo could not believe his little brother would be so gullible as to go with HUMAN pirates for bloody **stories**.

“They all really love the old man and want him to live! What’s wrong with helping them save their family?!” Luffy’s eyes were closed and he was positively screaming at Sabo now.

“Luffy…”

“I wanted to help them and you took me away!” Sabo sighed at Luffy, now knowing that he did something bad by assuming things.

“Why didn’t you tell Ace or I before you decided on this?…Luffy…you **know** we can’t trust humans…you should have asked one of us for help before doing something so dangerous.” Sabo lowered his head as Luffy slapped the water harder.

“But you would have stopped me!”

“No! One of us would have come **with** you!! So you wouldn’t be surrounded by dangerous HUMANS all by yourself!! The rules are in place for a damn good **reason** , Luffy!”

His merman brother pouted and crossed his arms, cheeks puffed out ridiculously cute as he turned away from Sabo. Oh, Luffy...you poor selfless asshole.

“Okay, look, Luffy, here’s what we’ll do okay? I’m gonna go back and hopefully rescue Ace, alright? Then the three of us will talk about this saving a human business…okay?” Sabo spoke soothingly, petting Luffy’s constantly wet hair as he did.

The merman frowned a little before he tilted his head back up to look his blond brother in the eyes.

“What are we waiting for?!!” Luffy smiled widely, wrapping his arms around Sabo’s shoulders and he did.

“We? We nothing. **YOU** are going back to Sunny Go, and you’re gonna stay there with your crew until Ace and I come to discuss your saving humans issue.”

Like hell Sabo was going to let Luffy go back to those humans, regardless of the fact that the merman was helping the pirates or not. His little brother’s safety would always be more important than anything else in the world.

“WHAT?! NO!! I WANNA COME TOO!! THE OLD MAN OWES ME STORIES!! AND I KNOW EVERYONE THERE!! I’M GONNA COME TOO!!” Luffy screamed, squeezing tighter to the harpy, and for a moment Sabo considered conceding just to get the brat to stop. But remembering his merman brother in that glass **cage** put those unneeded feelings back where they belong.

“Luffy. No. I’m not gonna risk your life. Not again. You’re going back to the Sunny Go, you’re gonna be **safe** , and Ace and I will see you there.” Sabo spoke as slowly as possible, looking into Luffy’s wide innocent eyes as he did so.

The red-tailed merman pouted again and opened his mouth to yell, but something in Sabo’s face must have said something he hadn’t already spoken, because the younger just snapped his mouth shut and turned away.

“You better come back to me. You AND Ace.” Luffy spoke quietly, looking towards the setting sun, and not at his now slumping brother.

Thank the _All-One_ that he got Luffy to give up coming with. Now came the fun part…rescuing the other brother.

**-Lines!! They are everywhere!!-**

Edward Newgate had grown wary of the oceans he was sailing on. He knew adventure and danger lurked around every corner, but he chose to sail anyway. With his age nothing was surprising anymore.

But, it seemed his sons and daughters still had a way of springing something new on him.

When he first heard the firing of the cannons, and the fighting going on above deck his first reaction was to immediately go and assist his family in whatever the hell was going on.

His lead nurse had other ideas in mind. In fact, the woman decided that locking the door and tying him up in his own oxygen cord was a good thing…why did he keep her around again?

Oh right, his health was declining and he needed her expertise. Inconvenient is what it is, she controls his alcohol intake way too much for him to be happy about it, but he knew his daughter had the best in mind for him, so he put up with his lowered alcoholic drink limit.

Anyway. The point of the matter is that it’s hard to surprise Edward Newgate, better known as Whitebeard, the fiercest pirate currently still sailing.

But his kids did just that.

When the sounds of battle from above finally stopped, his head nurse waited a full five minutes before he was allowed to go up to the deck to see if his children were okay.

He really needed to start laying down some ground rules about the safety of his children and how he refuses to sit in a chair below deck while they could be fighting for their lives.

Walking up the stairs, Edward can’t help but wonder **why** the deck was so noisy. He did hear some cannon fire so maybe they were attacked by an enemy ship, but then he didn’t hear any demands to fight him so that can’t have been it.

Opening the door, he’s pretty sure he’s prepared for just about anything that would greet him with the fading sunlight.

He was wrong.

“Pops, yoi.”

Marco greeted him with a quiet sigh, and suddenly Edward had the strange urge to massage his temples. If it made his most stable son sigh, then it was obviously going to be quite the mess.

Starting from one side of the deck, Edward slowly gazed over the mess that was there.

A few of his sons were sprawled out on one side, wounds of various state of seriousness on their bodies, but none were life threatening. A large group of his sons and daughters were surrounding the cages they built for captives so long ago, all kneeling and looking to be in various degrees of pain.

 _All-One_ grant him strength.

Edward opened his mouth to ask why on earth so many of his children were in such erratic degrees of injured, when a clang and thud rang through the air.

His eyes may be older than those of his children, but even he could see the Mythical that was presently in the captive cage they’d never used before.

It was most likely a merman made of fire. Not something too strange. At least not to him, Edward stopped being surprised by the different kinds of Mythicals long ago. But what really caused him worry was the blood that was so obviously dripping from the strangers shoulder.

“Oi oi. Stop that, brat. You’ll hurt yourself.” He said, making sure his voice was carried across the lovely sea air, smiling as all of his children looked at him with love and happiness. He was sure they were less prepared to deal with this new Mythical than he was.

Then again they all know he seemed to have a way with the brats that came aboard his ship.

Wait. Speaking of brats, where on earth was Luffy?

Edward’s mouth opened, eyes locking with Marco to ask his question when he was cut off by the strange captive Mythical, and a language he had not heard in many, many years.

“Επιτρέψτε μου από εδώ ! Δουλέμπορος! Ελευθερία κλέπτης ! (Let me out of here! Slaver! Freedom stealer!)” The Mythical yelled, **sharp** teeth being shown off, and Edward let out a laugh. He hadn’t heard the oddly rhythmic language in so long.

No wonder the kid looked so familiar. But to think he was getting so old that he almost forgot about the _Forgotten Race (2)_.

“Gurarara! Δεν είμαι ελευθερία κλέπτης! (I am no freedom stealer!)” He answered back in kind, his pronunciation of the language nowhere near as fluid as the brat’s was, but he was understandable enough. At least that’s what his old friend had told him.

The _Gorgόna_ looked completely shocked that he could speak the language of the _Forgotten_ , but then so were many people. But it had enough surprise value in it that the brat was no longer hurting himself against the bars of the cage. Not that Edward particularly liked seeing such a free Mythical trapped, but he was sure his son had a good reason for doing so.

“Pops? You know how to speak that strange language, yoi?” Marco asked curiously, as his trusted son came to stand beside him, watching the caged _Gorgόna_ with fascination and wonder.

Figures. If any of his children could get attached to a Mythical as dangerous as a _Gorgόna_ then it would be Marco. His son had a tendency to like anyone who had fire, or looked like fire, or could be **dangerous**.

“Gurarara! Of course! I had an old friend many years ago who taught me. Said speaking in code was a lot easier if the code was something no one could ever guess or learn.” He smiled widely down at his blond son and couldn’t help but fondly remember Roger and all the times they messed with the government.

Good times.

“Now, son, why do we have a γοργόνα (Gorgόna) in the captive cage we’ve never used?”

“A what, yoi?” Marco looked up at him with confusion painted clearly across his face. It was no wonder really, Gorgόna were supposed to be completely extinct, if one would believe the government list of extinct Mythicals.

“A γοργόνα (Gorgόna), son. It’s a Mythical race that I believed to be extinct, right up until this very moment. So why do we have one in a cage?” he spoke softly, watching the Gorgόna as he processed his every word. Edward knew very well how dangerous a Gorgόna could be, probably better than anyone left alive, so he would try not to upset this young one if he could help it.

“Uh…well, you see Pops, this γο-γοργ-γοργόν-” Thatch started to stumble over the strange word and Edward smiled wide.

“A γοργόνα (Gorgόna).” He corrected easily enough.

“Right, one of those, well he came swooping in with this weird-looking male harpy-” this time his chef son was cut off by the Gorgόna himself.

“Sabo δεν είναι παράξενο, μπορείτε γη τρώγων! (Sabo is not weird, you earth eater!)” His tone was angry but Edward simply couldn’t hold in his laugh. He forgot how weird Gorgόna insults were.

“Ο γιος μου δεν σήμαινε τίποτα από αυτό, παλιόπαιδο. Ηρέμησε. (My son meant nothing by it, brat. Calm down.)” Edward spoke to the Gorgόna, aiming to calm rather than to rile, before turning to his chef son.

“It seems he does not take kindly to you calling his friend weird.”

“Αδελφός! (Brother!)” The Gorgόna yelled again, sharp teeth gnashing as he clutched onto the bars with whitened hands. Edward just laughed again.

“Gurarara! He doesn’t take kindly to you calling his **brother** weird.”

The whole crew looked completely dumbfounded. Looking between Edward and their guest like they both suddenly grew second heads and were having a four-way conversation.

“But-but, he was a harpy!” Thatch seemed more confused by a Gorgόna and a Harpy being brothers than he really should be.

“Son, out of everyone in the world, I think we know more about non-blood related family ties, don’t you?” He asked Thatch, not unkindly as he gave his red-headed son a stern look.

At least the chef had the sense to look ashamed before he tried his tale over again. Good thing too, because Edward really wanted to know why their merman friend disappeared and where the Gorgόna came from.

“Right, well, **he** ,” Thatch pointed over to the captive Gorgόna in emphasis, “came swooping in with his **not-strange-at-all** male harpy **brother** , all up in arms, fire tail spinning and large talons all ready to rend us to pieces. We put up a good fight, then suddenly the **not-strange** male harpy made off with Luffy, saying something in that weird language to our new Mythical friend before flying away.”

Whitebeard nodded, following the story easily enough, though still wondering where the cannon fire came in, and why the Gorgόna was still here. They may not be able to sustain themselves in air for very long but he should have been able to do it long enough to make an escape.

“ **THEN** Marshal D fucking Teach decides that this is a **perfect** time for a bloody mutiny and attacks the Moby with some cronies on a different ship! And while we managed to beat them back **real** easy-like, fire tail over there got hit by a cannon ball and ended up passed out on our deck.

Marco thought he might have some sort of connection to Luffy, and if we kept him here maybe our wayward merman friend would come back! And that’s all you missed!” Thatch smiled as he finished talking but Edward was still focused on the fact that one of the men he considered his **son** had mutinied against him.

“I know you’re mad, Pops. But there isn’t much we can do now, yoi.” Marco smiled sadly up at him from his side and Edward couldn’t help but agree with his mature son. What was done was done. All they can do now is deal with the aftermath.

“You **could** let me go.”

The voice was something no one was expecting. None of them had heard it before, and the quick exchanging of confused looks between all his sons meant that it could only be their new guest.

Collectively all the heads on deck turned to look at the Gorgόna, who was no longer holding onto the bars for dear life, but now slumped on the ground, fire tail smacking the wooden boards in barely repressed anger.

“Gurarara. So you do speak _common_.” Edward couldn’t help but say, eyes crinkling as he laughed again. And the little brat had the audacity to glare at him. HAH! Roger had a much fiercer glare and it still never made Edward do anything at all.

“Of course I do. Only idiots can’t speak more than two languages.”

The words were obviously a jibe at all of his sons, but Edward still thought it was humorous, especially the fact that his children couldn’t care less.

They were all more amazed by the fact that they could now communicate with the strange Mythical they had never seen before.

When said Mythical realized he didn’t get the response he was expecting he just glared at the deck, his tail flaring up every so often as he smacked it on the ground.

“Oi oi! Don’t burn the Moby any more than you already have yoi!” Marco yelled out, concern flowing through his voice as he stepped closer to the cage.

Of course the Gorgόna took this as a threat and flared up even more, his teeth being bared as hissing like sounds came out of his throat.

“Calm down you brat. Stop hurting my ship.” Edward spoke, trying to cut off any kind of confrontation before it started.

“Don’t tell me what to do, old man!” The Gorgόna hissed out, his eyes slitting dangerously. “Θα μπορούσα να σας σκοτώσει όλους αν επέλεξα να! (I could kill you all if I chose to!)”

“Of course you could kill us all. Gorgόna were hunted to extinction by the government for that very reason.”

The whole crew was speechless at his proclamation, but it was true. His old friends’ race was hunted down and killed just because they had more natural defenses than humans and even other Mythicals. It was sad, but true.

Luckily that seemed to calm the Gorgόna down a little, like Edward thought it would. Gorgόna don’t like to be trapped, and they don’t like to be told what to do, so this was a good way for him to calm the other down before trying to get any answers out of the youth.

“So what’s your name brat?”

The Gorgόna glared at him, but opened his mouth, showing off his sharp teeth that caused many of his children to take one big step back. But the Mythical was interrupted by a loud scream that seemed to come from the sky.

“ACE!!”

**-DUN DUN DUNNNN A LINE!!-**

Ace hated humans. He hated every single one, regardless of age, gender, affiliation, none of it mattered. He hated them all, equally. Even more than he hated his father.

So being trapped on a ship stocked FULL of the hateful race pisses him off. The only thing that ticked him off more than simply being around human pirates was the fact that one of them SPOKE his language. The language he had an innate knowledge of due to his biology that only he and his brothers should know.

Therefore Ace thought he had plenty of reasons to burn down the ship with no hesitance. But he didn’t, because he’d never heard anyone besides his brother speak _Mythikós_.

That was probably why he wasn’t expecting Sabo’s voice yelling his name all of a sudden. HE was too engrossed in the strange old voice that was speaking _Mythikós_.

But regardless of his expecting it or not, Ace reacted almost instantly. He flared up his tail, eating some of the deck around him to make the flames hotter than they usually would be.

If he could consume enough resources then he could melt part of the bars surrounding him.

Doing so was almost second nature to him at this point so he looked to the skies for his brother without worrying about concentrating on feeding.

Never had Ace ever been so glad to see his brother’s mixed blue plumage in his life. And there were some pretty close calls.

The setting sun hit his wings and talons in just such a way that Sabo looked positively terrifying.

Ace loved the sight.

Still eating the wood, the freckled Mythical started to climb the iron bars, shuddering as he devoured a particularly large plank of wood. The sudden burst of energy from the wood started to change his tail from the usual oranges and reds to blues and whites.

Hotter fires were good.

Well for destruction, not so much for Ace’s mentality. Eating with his tail often gave him a sort of euphoria that he couldn’t control. Which is why he tried not to do it often, preferring actual food, but he was desperate and in a **cage**.

The humans were not quite freaking out but plenty of them were yelling in _common_. Specifically he heard one of them say something about a bola thrower and another one yelled for a rifle.

At that point instinct was driving Ace, so, disregarding possible effects of doing it again, he opened his mouth and **sang**.

The song of Destruction and Confusion twisted and turned through the crowd, harshly grabbing ears and causing several of the humans to go down. Some were completely out but others were in a state of continual pain.

But Ace forgot something important about his songs…

They affect everyone, no matter who Ace was actually aiming for.

The Gorgόna watched in absolute pain as Sabo’s flight path faltered and he started to go down.

Immediately Ace cut himself off and his brother righted his path, as Ace grabbed on to the top bars of the cage.

Ace’s tail was still connected to the deck by his eating but he pushed himself to reach his arm through the bars for his brother.

He might be able to melt the bars to let him through if Sabo could get close enough.

“Ace!”

Sabo’s yell was filled with terror and the Gorgόna wasn’t quite sure why. Sure he was being held captive by human **pirates** but his harpy brother **knew** how dangerous Ace could be.

Then he saw Sabo’s trajectory and knew that even though the harpy had corrected his flying, he was still way off course.

Sabo’s talons were going to cut off Ace’s arm if he stayed where he was. His brother wasn’t terrified for him, but of himself who was on the path to hurt Ace.

Disregarding any pain it could cause him, Ace released his strong grip on the horizontal bars and dropped to the still burning deck.

The impact caused the Gorgόna to let out a shriek as he curled inward, tail covering his head protectively.

Good thing he instinctively covered himself too, because only a few short seconds’ later pieces of the cage dropped on him, torn apart by Sabo’s sharp talons.

To be completely honest, before Ace properly met Sabo he had a very serious fear of harpies, and it was entirely due to their talons which were sharpened especially to cut through just about everything.

“Sabo!” Ace cried out as he saw his brother falter again; most likely due to toxic thoughts than anything physically damaging.

“Oi oi! Knock it off you flying demon!” One of the humans yelled out, the one who called Sabo **weird**.

Ace immediately hissed before flinging his tail out of his curl, aiming a tentacle of fire at the entirely rude human, scratching his back slightly on the charred deck as he spun his body.

A satisfying yelp reached his sensitive ears and Ace couldn’t help but smirk as he slammed his tail onto the deck, launching himself towards the hole Sabo had made in his cage.

Without thinking Ace stopped feeding on the deck, figuring he had enough juice to make it above the cage and into an easier position for Sabo to swing by and grab him.

But he misjudged something. He was barely halfway out when his tail flickered and terror gripped Ace’s heart as he was stuck halfway out of the horrible horrible cage.

His tail couldn’t go out. It **couldn’t**. He would **die**.

He shot a pleading glance at Sabo and was greeted with a determined one in return. Ace lifted his arm again, bracing for the jolt when Sabo seemed to freeze in midflight, the only part of him still moving was his wings.

Ace let out a cry, not understanding why his brother wasn’t saving him, when he realized that Sabo was looking **past** him.

Turning his head quickly, Ace understood why Sabo was so scared.

There was a sphere of sea water hanging over the cage Ace was in. His heart thumped in fear and he looked back at his brother. Sabo was shaking his head and moving his mouth.

“ΟΧΙ ΟΧΙ ΟΧΙ! Μην το κάνεις αυτό! Παρακαλώ! (No no no! Don’t do that! Please!)” The blond cried out, his feathers twitching in the wind as he flapped but that was the only movement he made.

“Θα πάμε να τον σκοτώσει! (You’re going to kill him!)” Sabo screamed and Ace let out a mournful cry, the sadness of the thought of leaving his brothers behind taking over his song.

“Bring Luffy back and we’ll let him go, yoi!”

Ace bristled at the thought of being used as a bargaining chip for his baby brother. But his fear of the water hanging over him overrode the anger.

He begged Sabo with his song to let him die. To not risk Luffy’s freedom for something so inane as Ace’s life.

“Μπορείτε βρώμικο βρώμικο αναζητούν νερό! Ελπίζω ότι η _All-One_ καταστρέφει το πλοίο σκλαβώσει σας! (You dirty filthy water seekers! I hope the _All-One_ destroys your slaving ship!)”

“Δεν είμαστε δουλεμπόρους- (We aren’t slavers-)”

“ΨΕΜΑΤΑ! (LIES!)” Sabo squawked, his anger boiling over. “Όταν επιστρέψω θα Μακάρι να μην είχε! (When I come back you will wish I hadn’t!)”

Ace’s heart shattered as he realized he brother **was** choosing the Gorgόna’s life over Luffy’s freedom.

He opened his mouth and **screamed**. No song, no ulterior motive, just the pain of loss; of knowing that his brother would do anything to save him, whether that involves their youngest or not. Ace is stuck on a ship full of **human** pirates while his brothers are both out there trying to save him.

They would be risking their lives for his and he **knew** he wasn’t worth it. So he released his pain the only way he knew how, screaming and holding on to the broken bars even as his tail flickered; which only served to remind him that Sabo’s arrival at his volcano had interrupted his only meal of the day.

Seconds later, Ace was falling again and everything was fading to black.

**WHO! ELSE! LOVES! LINES!**

Marco sighed unhappily as he exited the stairway leading up to the deck from the bunks below. His first look on the new day greeted him with the sight of the still passed out form of the Gorgόna; which only served to bring up the memory of Pops **scolding** him yesterday.

How was he supposed to know that Gorgόna’s die if touched by water?

Marco had no idea what a Gorgόna even **was** before yesterday, let alone the fact that threatening one with water was essentially a declaration of war. Clearly the harpy knew about **that** cultural fact, if his reaction said anything about it.

The first mate let out another sigh before he could stop it and headed over to the ship’s newest addition. There was nothing better to do besides wait for it – him – to wake up to apologize. Marco didn’t want to declare war; he just wanted the harpy to stop and to have Luffy back so he could save his old man.

Another sigh escaped Marco’s lips as he slumped down next to the cage. Hopefully the Gorgόna wouldn’t barbeque him on sight and they could talk a bit, maybe find out what the Mythical needed as far as food went. Namur was partial to fish and so was Luffy so maybe the new guest had a preference as well.

Placing his head on his knees, Marco thought about yesterday, after the attack on the Moby.

The Gorgόna – Ace, his mind supplied readily – slammed into the deck really hard, and his tail went from blazing hot blues and whites back to warm oranges and reds. It was strange to say the least. But then so was lifting the Mythical, who was surprisingly light, and moving him to the only spare cage they had.

The kid was practically catatonic, didn’t even twitch as Marco moved him. But the damage that was revealed from under his body, well, it made Marco want to wake the Gorgόna up and yell at him.

The deck was **scorched**. There were a few chunks of the planks missing, and practically all the wood inside the cage was a dark black spot of burnt.

It also didn’t ease any pain when he noticed the spots of blood that had somehow survived the blaze, or the fact that the Mythical–Ace, dammit–‘s back was shredded pretty badly. Marco wanted to get a medic to check him over but didn’t want to take the risk of Ace waking and hurting one of the crew.

Maybe Marco was a bit biased.

Ace, the most interesting Mythical he’d had ever seen in his life, was dangerous, and had proven, twice now, that he had no problem attacking the Moby and the people inhabiting it. Perhaps if they had met the Gorgόna under better circumstances they might have started off as friends instead of enemies.

At least he could try and fix this.

Marco scratched the back of his head and sighed again. He had to stop doing that, Thatch would call him old again if he were around to hear the sounds.

Just as the first mate was about to abandon his brief post in search of some food, he heard some soft shuffling, and what sounded like a really light whimper?

Turning to the side, Marco couldn’t stop his eyes from widening as Ace started to move his body. It was a sensual move, very similar to beached merpeople, always swinging their tail first then working up to their shoulders.

The movement really didn’t stop the blond from appreciating the Mythical’s physical attributes. He really was attractive, if probably a bit young looking for Marco…well, compared to Marco.

Ugh. He had more class than to admire a person who was for all intents and purposes, both knocked out and technically a prisoner.

This whole situation was beyond messed up.

Marco didn’t move, even as he watched as Ace’s eyes blinked open slowly, his tail of lovely fire flickering left and right as he seemed to come to terms with his location.

Of course, it also seemed like the Mythical had forgotten that he was captured, and continued to stretch his arms, shoulders, and back rather languidly. Which only served to accentuate those toned as all get out muscles…and _All-One_ help him. Marco was really appreciative of the Gorgόna’s body…

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end.

It seems like Ace had fully woken up and realized just where he was. Because now his eyes were wide open, his lips were pulled back to bare his sharp pointy teeth, his long ears were pulled back, and his tail was now thrashing widely.

Marco had barely a second to duck the wave of fire that came right for his head.

He could have sworn that he saw his life flash before him, but it’s also possible that it was just the sudden fire aiming for him. Hallucinations, or something.

“Woah, kid, calm down, yoi.” The blond flinched a bit as he realized that that was probably the worst thing he could have said in this moment.

And to prove him correctly, Ace was now staring at him with narrowed eyes, the slitted pupils reminding Marco of a stand-off between a snake and its prey…not a good comparison, because in that situation the blond was the prey, and there were few things he hated more than being in a weak position.

Ace was opening his mouth, probably to rip Marco a new asshole, but said man stopped the Gorgόna before he could even utter a single sound.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that…just don’t like fire coming towards me, yoi.”

The Mythical snapped his jaw shut, sharp teeth clinking together and causing Marco to realize, again, just how dangerous the kid really was; or at least the fact that he had a lot more built in weapons than most were blessed with.

But instead of the words calming Ace down like he thought it would, it seemed to make him more agitated than he was.

“Είστε ζητώντας συγνώμη για το λάθος πράγμα , την ελευθερία κλέπτης! (You are apologizing for the wrong thing, freedom stealer!)”

The growl and the musically harsh sounding language should have scared Marco, or at least set off his sense of self-preservation, but for some reason he was still calm. A look helped him understand that even though Ace was dangerous, and could kill him in seconds, he was still a trapped creature that craved freedom, deserved freedom.

“I’m sorry we had to put you in a cage, yoi.”

Marco couldn’t stop the words from spilling out, and he barely stopped his instant response of wanting to slap his hands over his mouth. He really was sorry that the free creature was in a cage, but he wanted to work up to the apology, not just blurt it out when Ace was probably threatening him.

Of course, the bewildered look that the Mythical threw out him might have made it worth the word vomit. When he wasn’t looking like he wanted to eat them all for breakfast, Ace looked a little bit more innocent.

“Πώς μπορείτε να ξέρετε τι έλεγα ?? Είσαι όπως και τα άλλα τρώγων land ?? Ξέρετε _Mythikós_ , καθώς και ?!! ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΣ ΚΛΕΦΤΗΣ !! (How do you know what I was saying?? Are you like the other land eater?? Do you know Mythikós as well?!! CULTURE THIEF!!)”

Once again, Marco was stunned by the almost haunting language. But then, he must have done something with his apology that pissed the Gorgόna off. Or was it his posture? Could Gorgόna get angry by someone’s posture? Was that a thing?

“You’re language is really quite beautiful.”

Marco looked right into Ace’s eyes this time, and he had the pleasure of seeing the red rise to his dark tan cheeks, and the blond almost grinned at the sight. Nothing is more attractive than an attractive person blushing, in his opinion.

“Stop.”

This time it wasn’t the oddly fascinatingly rhythmic language of the Gorgόna that Ace spoke. It was common, and like last time, it sounded a bit accented, like he had problems pronouncing the words. Which seems a bit impossible, but Marco grew up with common and only common, who was he to judge how difficult it was to speak it or not.

“Stop what, yoi?”

Well, if the attractive youth was going to talk to him, he might as well provide some conversation.

“Stop saying things!” the Gorgόna flicked his tail again, curling it up around him.

The tail was rather fascinating. Made of fire, and therefore intangible, but it had to have some sort of muscle or skeleton underneath, otherwise it wouldn’t be so solid. And it wouldn’t be able to slap the deck like it does.

“You want me to stop talking, yoi?”

Marco would be lying if he said he wasn’t amused. It seemed like Ace rarely talked to people he hadn’t met before, and didn’t know how to go about taking a compliment. Either that, or Marco had somehow insulted him, **again** , and the Gorgόna was trying to be subtle about it.

“ΝΑΊ! YES!” Ace’s voice rose as he seemed to both scoot closer and further away from the place Marco had claimed as his by the cage. Maybe it was a trick of the tail’s heat?

“Why?”

Let it be said that Marco is an older sibling, he knows how annoying his younger siblings can be, and he knows how to emulate them in the way that can be the most aggravating. Thank you, Thatch.

“BECAUSE! YOU TOOK LUFFY!! YOU HAD HIM IN A TANK ON YOUR SHIP!! YOU WERE GOING TO USE HIM TO FIND THE FOUNTAIN LIKE ALL YOU HEARTLESS δουλεμπόρους (SLAVERS) DO!! WE SAVED HIM!! BUT NOW YOU ARE USING ME AS COLLATERAL!! SO THAT ONE OF MY BROTHERS HAS TO CHOOSE BETWEEN MY LIFE AND LUFFY’S FREEDOM!! HOW DARE YOU?!”

Marco was a bit in awe, and shock, at the vision Ace presented. He looked like an avenging demon, his tail flaring between reds and blues, and his face warped into one of horrifying anger. The first mate really needed to stop being attracted to dangerous people.

“We weren’t using him, yoi.”

Let it be said that Marco could remain calm in many situations, regardless of the fact that there were peoples involved that could kill him in a single move.

The Gorgόna opened his mouth, no doubt to sling more scathing words Marco’s way, but the blond wasn’t having any of it. The Mythical clearly thought the Whitebeards had taken Luffy without any thought to the merman’s desires, and Marco hated it when anyone thought they could stomp on anyone’s consent that way.

“Stop. Let me finish.”

Ace’s mouth clamped shut and his tail flared a bright blue before it shifted back to reds and oranges. The Gorgόna hissed lightly, before settling awkwardly on the deck, not sitting like Luffy could, but half laying down with his arms as his only support.

Maybe his tail was more intangible than Marco had thought?

“First of all, we didn’t take Luffy.” Marco had to put his hand up to stop Ace from saying anything, because he clearly wanted to, and then continued.

“We found him swimming not far from his cove, yoi, the Sunny Go Island?” the Gorgόna nodded to Marco’s information, and the blond smiled a bit.

“Pops just asked if Luffy would show us the way to the fountain. Pops offered up some of his adventure stories as payment, yoi. Your brother accepted, that’s all there is to it. We didn’t take him, we didn’t force him to show us the way, we didn’t do anything or say anything he didn’t like, nothing like that.”

The first mate quieted and just watched as Ace seemed to process everything he had just said. His freckled face spoke of hesitance and mistrust, but Marco was keeping his hopes pretty high at this point.

Maybe Gorgόnas listened to reason.

The different emotions seemed to stop flying across Ace’s face, before suddenly the fiery Mythical was grabbing onto the bars that still separated them with his teeth bared and his tail slapping the deck.

“Why should I believe you, filthy δουλέμπορος (slaver), when all I have are your pretty words and the proof of my own sight? You are keeping me here to bring back my μικρός αδερφός (baby brother) by force. If what you say is the απόλυτη αλήθεια (absolute truth) then why keep me? Luffy would come back if he kept his word, and if you were talking to him you would know that. I serve no purpose here. ψεύτης, κλέφτης, απατεώνας, το πόδι περιπατητής! (Liar, thief, trickster, leg walker!)” Ace spat out with his face contorted in rage, before he flicked his tail and sent a wave of fire at Marco’s body.

Said blond needed to flip backwards and roll a little to get away from this wave of death, the Gorgόna was aiming to kill, or maim, this time.

Marco was actually getting a bit angry at this point. The Mythical may have had several good points, but if Namur could tell when people were lying, then the Gorgόna should be able to too! It was a thing amongst the Mythicals; they had built in lie detectors to protect themselves. Ace was just being petty.

“I know you can tell truth from lie, so you lashing out like this is just childish! And in case you didn’t notice, that male harpy **brother** of yours **took** Luffy from the ship, yoi! You are here so that he doesn’t try to keep Luffy from making his way back!” the first mate flipped up to his feet, his anger simmering under his skin.

He didn’t even bother to look at the Gorgόna again, to see his reaction to Marco’s own logical points, as he stalked back to the door leading below deck. Breakfast was about to be served, and like hell was he going to miss a meal for a Mythical that couldn’t listen to reason.

Marco really hoped that Thatch made something sweet for breakfast. After that run in he needed something to soothe his nerves and take his mind off of the unfairly attractive Gorgόna that was their new ship guest.

He didn’t really stop his way to the galley, but he was obviously angry enough that his siblings managed to avoid his path the entire way there.

Slamming the door open, all the chatting in the galley ceased, and Marco was too wrapped up in fuming to notice his brothers and sisters skillfully avoiding him.

Marco was able to walk up to the line without having to talk to anyone, or have anyone ask him what had him so angry, but of course Thatch would be one of the servers, and the asshole would just have to burst his bubble of solitude.

“Woah! Bro! You look like someone took all your shirts and dyed them pink!”

“Shut it, Thatch, I’m not in the mood, yoi.”

“Now now, Marco, we all know that Thatch needs a shut down every now and then, but that was a bit harsh, darling.” And Izou was in his bubble too. Could he not just take a few minutes to fume? Was that too much to ask?

“Does it really look like I give a shit, Izou?” Marco hissed back, and he could tell when literally everyone present moved in shock. The first mate was quite chill, and he never mouthed off, least of all to Izou.

The okama blinked his heavily made-up eyes in shock, before they narrowed and he pulled up his top lip in a snarl.

“I have no idea what crawled into your pants this morning, Marco, but don’t fucking talk to me like that, ever.”

Normally, Marco would apologize for taking his anger out on Izou, but his conversation with Ace had him quite riled up, and he needed to blow off some steam. Yelling at Izou probably wasn’t the best way to do that, but the man had gotten in the way of his normal target, so he really brought this on himself.

“You can’t control everything on this ship, Izou, least of all me, yoi.”

That was quite the low blow, everyone knew about the okama’s obsession with control after his really shitty childhood. But, Marco wasn’t thinking clearly, and he really wanted to get Izou angry enough to swing at him, so he could have a fight and blow off the steam that had built up.

Of course, when it comes to Izou, nothing ever works like how Marco wants it to, cause the damn okama was too fucking smart for his own good.

Instead of getting angry like Marco honestly thought he would, Izou simply and calmly analyzed Marco’s current posture. The blond didn’t want the okama to analyze him; he wanted the brat to take a swing!

“Thatch, I know you have some pastries back there, cough them up. Marco and I are going to have a chat about why coaxing brothers into a fight is a bad idea.” Izou spoke calmly, and watched Marco with one eye as the red-head chef pouted and brought out his hidden stash of sweet baked goods.

Fuck. Marco really hated Izou’s ability to be calm at the worst possible time. But he just sighed, for like the sixth time today, and followed the pretty man, knowing it would blow up in his face if he didn’t.

Izou lead the first mate over to an empty table towards the back of the galley, glaring at all of the busy-bodies who were unrepentantly watching them. They quickly looked away with Izou’s glare.

Marco slumped onto the bench and put his head down on the table, hoping to put off this confrontation for as long as possible. But the prettiest of the ship was hardly one for ignoring anything. So Izou just slammed the plate of pastries in front of Marco and sat on the opposite side of the table.

“Are you going to tell me why you are trying to get into a fight with me or Thatch?”

A light mumble escaped Marco’s lips but he raised his head and started chomping on a strawberry Danish with gusto. He glared sideways at the wooden wall sullenly.

“That won’t work with me, Marco. Talk to me, we’ll stay here all fucking day if we have to.”

“You can’t keep me here, Izou. I know I had no right to say what I did, but I don’t want to talk about it, yoi.” Marco spoke quietly, locking eyes with Izou to prove his sincerity.

“Don’t apologize for the results when I ask for the cause.”

This was why Marco doesn’t like having heart to hearts with Izou, he was like a marine with a high bounty pirate in sight, never wanted to let anything go. The blond sighed again, cursing himself as he did so.

“I really don’t want to talk about it. I just wanted to let off some steam, yoi.”

“And I’d like to know **why** you wanted to let off some steam. Specifically by making your brothers angry.”

Another sigh.

“It’s Ace.”

“The Gorgόna?” Izou’s brows furrowed, no doubt confused as to why Marco would be upset because of their new guest.

“Yeah…I went to apologize before breakfast, yoi.”

“Oh? I guess it didn’t go well seeing as you came right here and tried to pick a fight.”

“He got angry at me for explaining why Luffy was here, how we didn’t take him and was here voluntarily, yoi. But he wouldn’t listen to reason, and attacked me. TWICE!” Marco angrily bit into one of Thatch’s famous caramel bowties. He may have moaned a little at the taste…he never could remain angry with those damn pastries.

“So because he was being pigheaded you got angry and tried to take that out on someone completely undeserving. Yeah that makes sense, darling.” Izou’s deadpan face made Marco look away slightly with a look of shame.

There was a reason that Izou could get the truth out of anyone, and could shame everyone when they do something stupid. The man was just good at reading situations.

“It’s sounds so stupid when you say it, yoi.” Marco mumbled, grabbing another one of the bowties, while Izou laughed at him. It’s not often that anyone made Marco feel like a scolded child…Pops could do it, and apparently so could Izou.

“That’s because it is stupid, honey. You got all worked up by a kid, and then tried to get into a fight with two of your brothers in the stupidest way possible. You are being a dumbass.” Izou took an apple Danish and bit into it viciously.

Marco winced in response.

“I am sorry about what I said, yoi. I really wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s fine, dear, honestly. I know you’ll buy me a new kimono or dress at our next stop to make it up for me, and take over my watch for the next few weeks too.” Izou’s smile was both scary and mocking, but Marco nodded in agreement anyway. He really knew better than to mention control to Izou.

“Now, sweetie, I’m going to tell you what you are going to do when it comes to Ace.”

Marco looked at his brother with slight shock. Advice about Ace? That was not something he was expecting in the least when Izou mentioned they were going to have a chat.

“Do? I’m not going to do anything, yoi. It’s obvious he hates me, so I’m just going to stay away and hope he connects to someone else on the crew. Maybe Thatch, yoi.” Marco reached for another sweet, another one of the caramel bowties, when Izou smacked his reaching hand.

“That’s the talk of a pouting first mate. You love fire, you love learning about any new Mythicals we come into contact with, there is no one better than you to connect with Ace.”

“And how am I going to do that, Izou? I told you, he hates me, yoi.” Again Marco aimed for another sweet, the special blueberry muffins, but again Izou slapped his hand away. This time the first mate glared at the pretty man, he was still distressed and he wanted his fucking sweets!

“You can have another one after you listen to me, got it?” Marco nodded sullenly, looking at the sweet pastries with want.

“Every morning, every watch, you are going to sit with Ace. You don’t have to say anything, put that endless patience of yours to use, and just sit with him. If he yells at you, speak calmly, share stories, adventures of ours, yours, Pops’, whatever. Connect with him. Tell him about all the Mythicals you’ve met and befriended.”

Marco nodded and adopted a thoughtful look. That could work; establish him as a friendly force on the ship, one that would listen.

“If he asks you any questions, answer truthfully. If he wants to know about you, tell him. Don’t say anything but the truth, and do it with nothing but calmness. Let him know that nothing will phase you, no matter how hard he tries to lash out.”

Izou was really a genius.

“That’s a good idea, Izou…what would we do without you, yoi?”

“Crash and burn, darling. Crash and burn.” Izou smiled evilly before snatching one of the caramel bowties and standing.

“Make sure you get on his good side, hun. I don’t like seeing you angry.” The pretty man placed a light kiss on Marco’s cheek before walking over to finish breakfast with Thatch, the chef eagerly grilling his boyfriend on his conversation with Marco.

With a lighter heart, the blond started eating the rest of the sweets, and started to plot the different ways to be the right kind of annoying to Ace.

He was going to enjoy this a lot more the more he thought about it. Spending extended lengths of time with a very attractive Mythical? Yeah, not really a hardship. Not only that, but he now gets to learn, and perhaps record, information about a Mythical that he had never even knew existed.  

Marco finished the rest of his entirely unhealthy breakfast with a wide grin.

**THIS. LINE. IS. NEEDED.**

The next time Marco was on deck with Ace was during the morning shift of watch. Hours after midnight and hours until daybreak.

The Gorgόna was sleeping when Marco sauntered over to his cage, but was up and spitting by the time the first mate sat down. This time thought he didn’t let the curses and the rage get to him.

For almost all of the watch he listened to Ace yell in both common and what he thinks is called _Mythikós_ , the forgotten language of all Mythicals. But that he learned from Pops later on. This morning was completely about Ace calling him a liar.

Name calling never bothered Marco, the marines had called him much worse than a liar after all. He didn’t have a chance to mention anything to Ace or have any sort of conversation with him before the breakfast bell rang and signaled end of shift.

Without a look to the Gorgόna but a light toned “Later”, Marco made his way to the galley, wondering if he could still con Thatch out of his sweets.

The following days were spent in the same fashion, Ace cursing Marco and his family in two languages, while the blond simply sat next to him and kept a look out for wandering marine ships.

It changed one early shift, when Marco’s watch partner wandered up to the crow’s nest, tired of several shifts of listening to the Gorgόna screech his head off. It wasn’t like the yell from the first day, but it was still headache inducing.

But this time, Ace wasn’t yelling at Marco, just looking at him thoughtfully, his tail slapping the deck in an almost rhythmic pattern. Seeing that the young Mythical wasn’t going to bite his head off, the blond took a chance to ask a question.

“Why don’t you just melt the bars and take off, yoi?”

The Mythical looked shocked to hear Marco speak, but he really wasn’t surprised. Four days of not speaking seemed to have lured Ace into the idea that the first mate wouldn’t talk to him.

Marco looked at Ace expectantly, wondering again if they were feeding him right, because he looked slightly gaunter now than he did the first day on the ship.

But the Gorgόna didn’t answer. He didn’t even open his mouth to suggest he was going to answer. Black eyes just stared blankly at Marco, and continued to do so until the end of the watch shift, with the breakfast bell.

His watch partner mentioned the silence on their way to the galley but Marco just smiled mysteriously. Ace was his project; he wasn’t going to share anything with anyone until he got the Gorgόna’s trust.

The next watch continued in quite the same manner, again, though this time Marco didn’t ask any questions. He just watched the horizon while Ace watched him. The only difference this time was that his fire tail wasn’t slapping the deck, but almost twitching, as the younger splayed his hands through the fire near his waist.

At least that confirmed that although the fire was part of him, it could also be considered as a fire that wasn’t moving like it had muscles and direction instead of just wind.

Marco figured he’d get at least a few more days of silence before Ace finally deemed to talk to him, and that was fine with him. He used the time to contemplate the Moby’s next course of action. Should they head back to the Sunny Go Island to find Luffy? Or should they wait for the merman to find them?

“We’re in the middle of the ocean.”

It was Marco’s turn to be shocked. Of all things he wasn’t expecting Ace to say anything to him on this watch.

His head turned and he looked Ace right in the face as the younger looked at him pensively, his brows furrowed and his dark eyes narrowed. The fire tail flicked a little, something Marco now thought of as a nervous tick, and his sharp nails started digging into the decking.

“That’s true, yoi.” Marco spoke nonchalantly, not knowing why exactly Ace was mentioning their position.

But the other just huffed and looked towards the rising sun. It was almost end of shift, Marco idly noted, maybe he chose this time just for that reason?

“You asked why I haven’t escaped yet. It’s cause we are in the middle of the ocean.”

Marco’s eyebrows raised in surprise. He never expected and answer to that inquiry, he was curious, yes, but it was something he knew the Gorgόna wouldn’t answer.

“You have a tail of fire. Surely you can fly, yoi.” Their location should mean nothing to the Mythical, not with the ability to **fly**.

“Not for long.”

Marco made a grunt of acknowledgement but remained silent. If he said anything stupid now the other might decide to stop being forth coming with new information.

“I would need to heat my tail to a higher temperature than normal, even if I ate some of the deck that would only give me so much energy. My tail would go out over the water and I’d die in seconds.”

The first mate’s eyes were wide now. Eat the deck? Did he eat flammable things? Was that why he was so much skinnier now?

“Do we need to bring you flammable things to eat? Is that why you lost weight, yoi?” Marco was ignoring the other portion of information; Ace’s diet was far more important than the reason why he wouldn’t escape.

“What? That doesn’t have anything to do with anything!” the Gorgόna looked completely shocked at Marco’s question, but he had no idea why. Surely Ace knew how important his well-being was to them.

“This is why I wanted to ask you your diet that first day. We don’t want to hurt you, yoi.”

Ace was quiet again, staring at Marco pensively, while also crossing his arms and laying down sideways on the deck with his primary supporters otherwise occupied.

But Marco wasn’t about to be pushed aside now, Ace’s health was **important** dammit.

“Don’t go quiet now, Ace. We need to know what you eat, yoi. We want you to be healthy.” Marco was standing now and grabbing onto the bars as he looked down at the Mythical, trying to convey just how important this was.

“Fire.”

The voice was quiet and muffled so Marco thought he misheard the other.

“What?”

“I eat fire…not…not mine, but…made fire…”

Marco was quite confused, but he knew he heard right so he just nodded absently.

“Alright. I’ll make sure someone makes you a fire, yoi.” The first mate spoke just as the breakfast bell rung to signal end of shift. “I’ll see you later, Ace.”

The next watch greeted Marco with a healthier looking Gorgόna, who was also grabbing onto the bars of the side of the cage where the first mate always sat. He looked…excited?

“Hello, Ace, yoi.”

Ace didn’t quite smile at him, but the upturn of the eyes was enough of one for Marco. Maybe he was finally making a dent in the younger’s shield.

“What does that mean?”

But it seems like he was still able to take Marco by surprise. That was not a question he was preparing himself for.

“Uh, it’s a greeting?”

“No not that.” Ace dismissed, waving his hand and his tail starting swinging back and forth, reminding Marco of a cat hunting prey. “What does ‘yoi’ mean?”

The blond blinked in surprise, eyes widening. Trust Ace to ask about something so simple and complicated.

“It’s a speech impediment, yoi.”

Ace tilted his head to the side in obvious confusion, and Marco did his best to hold back the wave of attraction that spilled over him at the motion.

“What’s an impediment?”

“It means I can’t stop myself from saying it. It just happens, yoi.” Marco sighed out as he settled himself back in his spot, waving to his new watch partner in the crow’s nest. Ace’s eyes followed Marco’s gaze to the other pirate and suddenly he wasn’t so warm.

While looking at Marco’s brother in the crow’s nest, the Gorgόna bared his teeth again and hissed at the man that was watching him with unrestrained curiosity.

A sigh escaped before Marco could stop it and now that look was centered on him.

“It’s alright, Ace. No one is going to come near you without your permission, yoi.”

The vicious look fled without another word and the confused head tilt came back full force. Marco glanced away this time, unable to handle the image.

“Then why are you here?”

There was more shocked blinking at the words. Ace was a lot more perceptive than the blond gave him credit for.

“It would be cruel to leave you all alone, yoi. My love of fire had me nominated immediately.” Obviously that wasn’t the response that the Gorgόna was planning on.

Without a second passing, Ace’s face was flushed bright red, and he turned away from Marco, his tail flicking up and hiding his face.

The two didn’t talk anymore that day, but Marco was fine with that. The look of a flushed and shy Ace would keep with him for a long time.

Every single shift for the next week continued in a similar manner. Ace asking many questions, and Marco answering them as best as he could.

“Why do you call him Pops?”

“Because he calls us his children and that makes us happy, yoi.”

“Why are you pirates?”

“Cause we do what we want and the marines don’t like that.”

“What are those things with the hard balls?”

“Guns and cannons. They are weapons that we use to protect ourselves, yoi.”

“Luffy really volunteered to come with you?”

“Of course, yoi. I wouldn’t lie to you, Ace.”

“Is it fun sailing around the world?”

“It’s the best. I couldn’t imagine myself settling down on a single island ever, yoi.”

“Even if you met someone who was?”

“Never, yoi.”

“Are they really all of your brothers and sisters?”

“Not by blood, but I chose them and they chose me too, yoi.”

“Like Sabo, Luffy, and me?”

“If that’s what you are then yes, yoi.”

Finally the morning came that Ace had run out of questions and Marco took full advantage of his thinking silence to ask some of his own.

“That language you speak, how did you learn it? Pops said you were probably the last of your kind, yoi.”

Ace looked startled at the question, but he had long given up his hate of the human, and had been sitting rather close to the bars while they talked. It took a few moments but eventually the Gorgόna answered the human.

“It’s something ingrained in my being…um…I just sort of knew it?”

Marco blinked in surprise, not expecting that answer in the least. But he continued on, not knowing if this was the only time Ace would feel like answering questions or not.

“So you were born just knowing it? Did you teach your brothers too?”

“Well yeah…I was really surprised when your captain spoke _Mythikós_. As far as I knew, me, Luffy, and Sabo were the only ones who should know it.” The tail of fire curled around Ace’s body as he slipped down the bars from his position.

Marco looked at the slowly rising sun in contemplation. Ace was probably very close to sleep at this point, but he couldn’t risk the chance of not getting the answer to his next question.

“Are you really the last Gorgόna, yoi?”

That startled Ace out of his almost doze, his wide dark eyes looking at Marco in complete and utter surprise. Okay maybe Marco stuck his foot in his mouth again. But the other just looked to the side with a hurt look.

“According to the old hag, the others were exterminated by the humans…my mother was the last and then she died giving birth to me…” Well…Marco did not mean to step on that can of worms.

“I’m sorry, yoi. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories…”

“No, it’s okay. I got over it a while ago, but yeah I am the last one…kind of cool but a little lonely…and puberty was horrible…” Ace cracked a smile at the blond which he returned full forth and a slightly too loud laugh.

“I’ll bet…who’s the old hag, though?”

Ace blinked again in slight surprise before he made a slight O with his mouth, looking around to make sure no one was lurking.

“Well I guess I could tell you…the rules were made for Luffy anyway…”

“I don’t want to get you in trouble, Ace, for my own curiosity, yoi. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, or if you shouldn’t.”

But the Gorgόna just waved him off and smiled lazily.

“It’s fine, worry wart, I won’t get in any trouble.” He flicked his tail again and rolled over until he was laying on his back and looking up at Marco with wide eyes and a large grin.

“The old hag is a cyclops that ‘kidnaps’ young Mythicals with nowhere to go. I was the first, cause μαμά (mama) died on the old hag’s island. She runs a sort of collective living now, for all those who were orphaned by human attacks or the like. Sabo, Luffy, and I grew up there. We only moved out a few years ago when Lu hit maturity.”

Marco blinked at all the information, and tilted his head slightly at Ace’s use of _Mythikós._ He was not so wary now that he was actually teaching Marco a few words, but that one wasn’t one Marco knew.

But he couldn’t ask for the meaning because Ace was now fully asleep, chest moving rhythmically in an obvious sign of his sleeping. Marco smiled lightly before heading to the galley, the breakfast bell ringing slightly after.

Ace and Marco had built a good relationship, and the Gorgόna was hardly hostile to him at all anymore. The other crew members were a different story, but whenever Ace caught sight of Marco he seemed to perk up and become more animated than when Marco was below deck. That sort of sparked a warm feeling in the first mate’s chest, and even though he knew he couldn’t do anything about it, it still made him happy.

Days passed in the same manner. Marco asking questions, Ace asking questions, storied being told, and knowledge being passed back and forth. Marco knew quite a bit of _Mythikós_ but not nearly enough to actually hold conversation in it, but he knew just the right amount to know what Ace was saying when he slipped into his native tongue.

Of course their sort of easy comradery had to end at some point, or at least be interrupted by something, and that something came in the form of an angry as hell harpy.

**What do you know. Another fucking line.**

Sabo was angry. He was beyond angry, farther than pissed off, and nowhere near just fuming. He wanted to rip heads off of bodies and eat the flesh of anyone that stopped him.

It had been weeks. Maybe three, possibly four. He’d stopped counting after the first.

Ace had been captured by those bloody pirates for **weeks**. And Sabo had been tailing them the entire time.

He got maybe an hour or two of sleep every night, his anxiety about the ship moving while he slept not letting him get more than that. He ate only birds and some unlucky surface fish, but no humans, or anything remotely substantial.

Sabo was getting weaker. The lack of fresh water, the lack of food, the lack of sleep, the constant worry. It was all piling up on him, and he was growing thinner, more tired, and angrier. He had to act soon or he would be taken down easily.

He held onto high hopes that that cage was the only one those bloody pirates had, and that his damage would still be there, making it easier to fly in, grab Ace, and go. But he doubted slaving pirates would only have a single cage. Hopefully they didn’t move him to one below deck.

Harpies were many things, but room-dwellers was not one of them.

Sabo also sent prayers to the _All-One_ that Ace was being treated well, and was holding on to that stubbornness that kept him from ever giving up. If Ace had given up on being saved, then there wasn’t anything Sabo could do to help him.

But Sabo wasn’t so sure that Ace’s stubbornness had lasted as long as it should have.

Because at first he had heard the yells of his enraged brother, but after a few days there was only silence. A prickling silence that ruffled all of his feathers and ran down his back like an unwanted touch.

He needed to rescue Ace today.

With his health declining, and the possibility of arriving to a broken brother growing higher and higher, the sooner Sabo got him the better off they’d both be.

It was close to sunrise when the harpy decided to make his move.

He had heard the bell, shift change was at sunrise, if he got there when there were no guards on deck, then he wouldn’t have to risk a confrontation and getting Ace out of that forsaken hole would be a lot simpler.

Taking off of his small perch was difficult. The lack of proper food made his muscles weak, and the lack of space made his take-off harder.

All Sabo wanted was to rescue Ace, go back home, and bask in his brother’s caring presence for a moon or two. Was that too much to ask?

Even with all the challenges, Sabo was still on time as he closed the distance between the slaving ship and himself. He couldn’t fly as high as he wanted with how weak he felt, but he was sure he was too high for pathetic human eyesight to see him.

Sabo hovered above the clouds for a long moment, waiting for the sun to actually peak out over the sea, before he dived down.

He watched as dark blacks and blues became lighter blues and purples then to bright blues, and yellows, and reds, and oranges. The view the sunrise gave almost made him weep. This would be the last sunrise that Ace would spend in that blasted cage and that made Sabo endlessly happy.

A light chime rode the wind, and a vicious smirk stretched across the angry harpy’s face.

It was time.

In short order, Sabo had straightened his wings and tucked in his talons, closing his wings behind his back as he started diving towards the large ship. Despite the instinct that was pulling at him to make a noise, Sabo did **not** open his mouth to release a caw of punishment. He couldn’t give away his position for his own pride.

Maybe after he had Ace safely in his talons and was flying away.

Barely a few meters from the crow’s nest of the ship, Sabo snapped out his wings, startling as it took longer for them to catch the wind than they should. Another downside to lack of nutrition, his feathers were frail and could hardly hold wind.

His eyes focused on where Ace was the last time he attacked the ship and let out a low caw of anger seeing his beautiful free brother in another **cage**. The blond that threatened Ace with water was walking away from the cage, and Ace was lying face down on the deck, and Sabo was overcome with that **rage**.

Rescuing Ace should have come first. Revenge, second. But red had clouded Sabo’s sight and all he saw was the **human** behind his separation from Ace.

Talons were extended as he swooped down, idly he registered the yell of a human, but his sights were focused on the blond human.

He was centimeters away from grabbing onto his prey when his ears registered a familiar yell.

“SABO!”

That was all it took for the harpy to bank sharply and head to the cage, the blond human forgotten as he raced to his beloved brother.

His talons were extended, to snap the lock off the cage, when something fast whizzed by in front of him, grazing one of his talons and clipping it slightly.

Immediately Sabo halted and turned his head to a different human, one that looked female but smelled male, and bared his fangs in obvious threat.

“Oi! Izou! Don’t hurt him, yoi!”

The voice was somewhat familiar, but Sabo wasn’t trying to identify humans, he was trying to rescue his brother. So despite wanting to rip the human’s innards out and feasting on them, Sabo started for the lock again, talons once again raised.

This time he was stopped by the yell of his name, in that familiar voice from before.

“Wait! Sabo, right, yoi?!”

Said harpy turned his head sharply, looking at the blond human that had stolen both of his brothers. His eyes narrowed and he cawed angrily again, flapping his sore wings harder as he fought to stay in the air, in his territory.

“Look, just calm down a little and land, yoi. We can talk this over. We haven’t hurt Ace, yoi.” The human’s voice was oddly soothing, and he really wanted to sing and just nest right where he was and sleep for days.

But he **couldn’t**. Because the human with the nice voice **stole** his brother.

“Μην προσπαθήσετε και να καταπραΰνει μου, δουλεμπόρων! Πήρατε τον αδελφό μου! Είμαι εδώ για να τον πάρει πίσω! Σας είπα ότι θα ήθελα να μην είχε επιστρέψει !! (Don't try and sooth me, slaver! You took my brother! I am here to get him back! I told you that you would wish I had not returned!!)”

Sabo was surprised to hear how harsh his voice was, even in the rather harsh _Mythikós_ language. It had been a long time since he used it, but it shouldn’t sound like rock rubbing against rock.

The human seemed just as surprised if the look on his face said anything, but Sabo shook himself out of whatever spell the human seemed capable of casting and turned back to the cage.

Ace was clinging to the door, watching Sabo with a look of mixed horror and worry. Ace shouldn’t be worrying about Sabo of all beings, **Ace** was the one in a **cage**.

His talons rose again and he started flying towards the lock, gesturing at Ace with his head to move aside. His Gorgόna brother shifted a bit, not nearly far enough away for the state Sabo was in, but he could work with it.

Sabo was centimeters, **centimeters** , away from making his mark, when he felt a sharp sting in his side.

He dropped to the deck like a rock, his talons twitching slightly and his wings weaker than they were. A quick glance to the side that was stinging revealed a feather dart and horror washed over him.

Blue eyes locked with black and tears slid down Sabo’s face.

He had failed.

Now both he **and** Ace were held on a ship that was most likely a slave ship of some kind. They were both going to lose their freedom, and it was Sabo’s fault for waiting so long to rescue his brother…how could he have been so stupid?

The last sight he saw was of a worried Ace moving his mouth. He was probably saying something but the blackness was rushing in and Sabo knew nothing but dark and silence.

**Who else is getting tired of these damn lines?**

Ace woke up in the middle of the night with high hopes for his discussion with Marco. The man had been entirely forth coming and answered every single one of his questions, even the rather ridiculous ones.

It didn’t hurt that the human was rather easy on the eyes. Kind of like Sabo, only with more muscles and legs with no feathers.

He was hoping he could convince Marco to let him out of the cage today. He’d been calm for the last few weeks and he wanted to stretch out a bit more, maybe build him a fire worthy of a feast. But Ace wasn’t sure how the pirate would respond.

Sure they had somehow forged a friendship in the past few weeks, but Ace was still technically their prisoners, and normally prisoners were never let out of their prisons. But if Ace started asking today and kept on asking, maybe they’d actually let him out.

It wasn’t like he planned on going anywhere anyway.

Unfortunately, when Marco showed up for his shift, Ace was too worried to ask him. So he spent their time together telling the other all about Sabo.

Marco seemed really fascinated with Mythicals, and Sabo was surely unique enough to garner some attention, and if Ace was reading the human right it was more than just some.

The sun started to rise, Ace was so caught up talking he didn’t notice time passing at all, and he couldn’t help but wish they had some more time together to chat. Marco leaving was the worst part of every sunrise, despite how beautiful they were on the sea.

A chime interrupted Ace in the middle of talking about Sabo’s preference for raw meat. Marco stood and smiled at the Gorgόna in a way that had Ace’s heart fluttering and red rising on his cheeks. The human shouldn’t be able to pull these reactions from him, but they weren’t harmful. Appreciating an attractive human had never hurt anyone.

It wasn’t until Marco was walking away that Ace realized he had forgotten to ask about getting out of the cage.

Oh well, he could ask tomorrow, he had time.

Ace flopped onto the deck face down, wiggling as he enjoyed the rising temperature that the sun brought with it. Heat was good. Cold was deadly.

A light hum of content escaped his mouth, and Ace fully relaxed to sunbathe and maybe take a nap before his meal showed up.

It was only a few seconds, not even a minute, when Ace felt a shift in pressure, and a familiar presence caressed him from somewhere above.

Ace’s head snapped up just in time to see Sabo, **Sabo** , heading towards Marco’s back with his talons in prime position for a kill.

The yell came instinctively.

“SABO!”

That seemed to do the trick, because now his precious harpy brother was heading towards his cage with raised talons and an angry expression.

Ace had a few seconds to take in his brother and sorrow overwhelmed the eldest.

While the Gorgόna was enjoying his time on the pirate ship, learning about humans and making a friend, it seemed like Sabo was suffering.

His brother was so skinny he could see ribs, and once brilliant and bright blue and yellow feathers were faded and dull, limp and lifeless. His beautiful blue eyes were sunken and surrounded by dark purple bruises, and his normally perfect shaggy hair was a mess and everywhere.

Ace couldn’t stop the pain in his heart from the sight.

But his musings crashed when he heard the sound of a gun and watched as a bullet blunted one of Sabo’s claws. Ace was about to yell out in anger when Marco beat him to it.

“Oi! Izou! Don’t hurt him, yoi!”

The Gorgόna let out a breath of relief and watched as Sabo startled slightly before raising his talons again.

Once more, he was stopped by Marco.

“Wait! Sabo, right, yoi?!”

Ace watched in worry as Sabo turned to Marco, his face full of anger and grief. His brother started flapping his wings harder and black eyes narrowed…was Sabo so weak that he could barely hold himself up in the air?

“Look, just calm down a little and land, yoi. We can talk this over. We haven’t hurt Ace, yoi.”

Marco was using his soft voice. The one that rushed down Ace’s back in all the right ways and never ceased to put a red blush on his freckled cheeks. It seemed Sabo felt the same way because his flaps paused briefly.

Good. Maybe Marco could talk Sabo down and Ace could coddle and take care of his brother like he obviously needed.

He wasn’t sure when, but at some point the Gorgόna started to feel safe here, and although he’d much prefer his volcano, he knew that Sabo couldn’t make that distance without some serious TLC.

And call him selfish, but Ace wasn’t ready to part from Marco just yet.

“Μην προσπαθήσετε και να καταπραΰνει μου, δουλεμπόρων! Πήρατε τον αδελφό μου! Είμαι εδώ για να τον πάρει πίσω! Σας είπα ότι θα ήθελα να μην είχε επιστρέψει !! (Don't try and sooth me, slaver! You took my brother! I am here to get him back! I told you that you would wish I had not returned!!)”

Sabo’s voice hit Ace right in the heart. It was so rough and grimy sounding. He grabbed onto the cage door with both hands and looked at his flying brother in pain.

His brother should never sound so harsh. Sabo had one of the nicest voices ever, nicer than Marco’s even. The harshness didn’t suit him at all.

Ace hardly payed attention to the **words** that his blond brother spoke, but when he turned and gestured at Ace, he moved away from the door just enough to be safe. When Sabo got closer, Ace would try to talk him down. Sabo always listened to Ace, even when he didn’t want to.

Just centimeters away, and Ace already had his mouth open, ready to speak to his brother for the first time in weeks, when he dropped.

Ace wanted to scream. What happened?!

He watched as Sabo glanced down at his side and Ace saw the feathered dart sticking out from his side, and Ace’s eyes widened in horror.

Glistening blue eyes locked with his and tears slid down that once beautiful face, and for once Ace wanted to release his Song upon these pirates again.

Sabo slumped and fell to the side, his breathing shallow but rhythmic, indicating sleep.

Ace screamed.

“SABO! SABO! Αδελφός, παρακαλώ! Δεν είναι νεκρός! Δεν μπορεί να πεθάνει! Θα πρέπει να είναι εκεί για μένα και Luffy! Δεν μπορούμε να το κάνουμε αυτό χωρίς εσάς! Παρακαλώ! Παρακαλώ! (SABO! SABO! Brother, please! Don't be dead! You can't die! You need to be there for me and Luffy! We can't do this without you! Please! Please!)”

Tears slid down Ace’s cheeks as he pressed against the bars of his cage, arms reaching through the spaces for his brother. His dear brother that hadn’t forgotten, who hadn’t tried to trade Luffy, but had tried to save him **again**.

Other human pirates were on deck now, looking at both Ace and the harpy curiously, but unlike with Ace they were actually approaching Sabo’s downed body.

While he may have a friendship with Marco, Ace did not trust a single one of these pirates with his brother. So he did the only thing he could do while still so far away.

Ace dropped his jaw, and he sang.

Not a song of pain, but one of confusion. He liked Marco, he didn’t want to hurt the pirate’s family, but he needed to keep them away from his own.

Surprisingly, his blond human pushed through his song, walking towards Sabo with a slightly uneven gait, and Ace let up his song.

He wondered just what his sort of friend was doing and watched surprised as the human bent over and effortlessly lifted a limp Sabo into his arms. It shouldn’t have surprised him so much. Sabo was a harpy, they had hollow bones and were ridiculously light, but it still shocked him to see a human lift him so easily.

Ace watched in worry, wondering where the human was going with his brother, and hid his shock rather well when Marco started towards Ace and his cage.

The Gorgόna moved to the side of the cage and watched silently as Marco opened the door with one hand while the other cradled the knocked out Sabo.

When Marco entered the cage and started walking over to Ace, he wanted to panic, but he was more worried about the state of his brother than of how close the human was getting without the protection the bars offered.

But the pirate showed his trustworthiness by simply handing Ace his brother then walking right back out, locking the door after he exited.

Ace was immediately taken with checking his brother, letting out soft croons of sadness as he could actually confirm the horrid state the harpy was in. Oh why did this happen to Sabo of all beings?

“I’ll get you the first aid kit and some food, yoi.”

Marco’s voice sounding so close to Ace freaked him out; he clutched on to Sabo and looked up at the pirate with fear for the first time. It obviously caused said human to be taken aback because he took a sudden step backward at the look.

“I’m sorry, Ace. We didn’t want to hurt him, yoi.” Marco was speaking softly, and Ace eased back, sliding his fingers through Sabo’s hair and idly wondering where Sabo’s hat disappeared to. He wasn’t wearing it when he swooped in.

“It’s okay, Marco…I was just surprised to hear you from there, is all…a first aid kit would be appreciated…Sabo prefers-”

“Raw meat. I know, yoi.”

Ace looked up at his human kind of friend in surprise. He didn’t know that Marco actually remembered everything that he babbled out. A smile lighted the Gorgόna’s face as he looked up.

A responding smile spread across Marco’s face before he headed towards the lower deck, a serious look on his face as he grabbed a nearby crewmate with a gun by the ear.

Seemed like someone was going to get chewed out.

Ace looked down at his passed out brother and shuffled him around into a more comfortable position, moving the wings particularly carefully as a few dead feathers fluttered out.

“Don’t worry, Sabo. We’ll get you taken care of. This place isn’t as bad as we thought.”

The Gorgόna smiled softly at his brother and started to hum as he waited for Marco to return. Maybe Sabo would make friends with the blond human too. That would be nice…

**Yep, another line appears!**

Sabo’s awakening was a harsh one. He flailed and fought, and almost clawed Ace with sharp talons, but the Gorgóna’s soothing song was able to calm the harpy down quite a bit.

The next few hours were spend with Ace trying to fix up Sabo’s few injuries, while also berating the blond for not taking better care of himself.

And once he was calm, Ace was able to explain that he was making friends with Marco (the blond that had threatened him at first) and that these human pirates weren’t the bad sort.

Sabo took all that Ace said with a grain of salt and glared at anyone that tried to approach the, now shared, cage. But when Thatch caught, killed, and presented Sabo with an entire Sea King, the harpy was willing to accept the chef’s presence.

Marco took a lot of getting used to.

The harpy wanted to spit and hiss at the pirate, for threatening Ace, for keeping him in a cage, for capturing Sabo as well, for being the cause of all their issues. But seeing Ace light up every time the other blond came on deck made it hard for the harpy to stay pissed off.

Instead, he sullenly nested in the corner while **his** brother chatted with Marco.

A week passed like that, with Sabo tolerating Marco’s presence for Ace, when suddenly the blond pirate said something entirely wrong.

“We are probably a few days away from really needing a restock, so we are passing a few islands in favor of Drum, seeing as we normally stop there when we are in the area, yoi. The navigators think it’ll be a week at most.”

Sabo scoffed and hopped his way over to his brother and Marco, eyes lighting up in glee when the other blond gave him a glare. The pirate didn’t like interruptions with Ace time, but tough shit. Ace was **Sabo’s** first, anyway.

“What, yoi?”

Ace had told Sabo of Marco’s speech impediment, but the harpy was still shocked every time he heard it. That didn’t stop him from laying some knowledge onto the stupid human though.

“We are two weeks from Drum. The winds die down in this area, and the storms of this season will delay us pretty significantly.”

“Oh? And what do you know about navigation, yoi?”

Sabo bared his teeth at the scathing question, but Ace stopped the fight before it even started with a simple look in the harpy’s direction. Fine. He wouldn’t start a fight with the unfairly attractive human.

“I’m a bloody harpy. I fly around all the time. I’ve flown these waters many times, and I think a ship that relies on the **wind** should pay some attention to a being that’s flown.”

Marco looked thoughtful at those words, and while Sabo kind of wanted to start a fight, he understood that the human wanted a somewhat pleasant relationship.

There was a fat chance of that, though. Ace may be oblivious, but Sabo recognized the attraction present in the pirate’s eyes. It was no doubt similar to what Sabo’s own blue eyes held.

“You make a fair point, yoi. But we are good for about two weeks anyway. We’ll be fine till Drum. Past Drum if we really push it, yoi.”

Sabo shrugged and nestled down next to his brother. There was something about the idea of Drum that was pressing on his memory, but the harpy couldn’t pin down what it was and forgot it in favor of listening to the human’s stories and basking in his brother’s closeness.

After that particular exchange, Sabo was a lot more pleasant to Marco when he came by, which was more frequent than just during his shifts.

Now, not only did Ace enjoy having Marco’s attention, but so did Sabo. The human was fascinating and not at all freaked out by how odd a male harpy was. Barely even batted an eyelash when Sabo mentioned he was the first of his kind.

Four days after Sabo arrived on deck, and both Mythicals were excited to see Marco and talking with other crewmates as well.

Namur in particular had made a quick move in apologizing shortly after they started opening up to the others. He told them he only held the water over Ace’s head to calm them down, because of fire’s weakness to the water, he didn’t know it would kill the Gorgóna at all.

Both Sabo and Ace laughed it off and said no worries. How were any of them to know anything about a Gorgóna when Ace was the last one in existence?

A few more days pass, and both Sabo and Ace were greatly enjoying their time with the Whitebeards, but they noticed a temperature drop at night.

Sabo figures that it’s just because they are near a spring island, and cuddles close to Ace at night while using his wings and feathers to keep out the cold.

But the nights start getting even colder than a spring island, and the cold starts seeping into the days too. Now a crew member would be shocked to not find Ace curled up in Sabo’s lab, with the harpy gripping at the Gorgóna with tight arms.

Idly, the crew can’t help but worry if they might be cold, but Ace has a tail of fire, so that can’t be it.

Marco would have asked a question or two about their sudden weird behavior, but the first mate was out on a mission for Pops. He was tracking down a nearby ally to ask about a map that they needed to try and find their way back to the Sunny Go Island.

The first mate **told** Whitebeard that they should mark the islands location, but his old man just laughed it off and said they wouldn’t need it.

Sure.

Well they sure did seem to need it now.

So while the nights were edging more and more towards freezing and frozen, and Ace and Sabo started slowing down, eating less, and refusing to move more, Marco was blissfully unaware as he shared drinks with one of the few siblings with their own ship.

The request had hardly taken any time at all, Whitey Bay was more than happy to hand over the map to Sunny Go, but like always, a party needed to be had.

On the day before Marco was due back, Izou took note of the fact that Ace’s tail seemed smaller today than it normally did, but the pretty man put it to the side as a trick of the cold and went to talk to Thatch.

The chef was a little more worried than his boyfriend, and mentioned that they two Mythicals had been eating less, but Izou assuaged those worries by saying that they must no longer be starving if they are no longer eating like wild animals.

Morning dawned and Marco’s small ship docked to the larger Moby, and the blond smiled to himself, excited to see the two attractive Mythicals. It had been a few days after all, and he was sure the two would like to try the exotic meat Bay had forced on him as he was leaving.

Unfortunately nothing could have prepared Marco for the sight that greeted him in the middle of the cage.

A happy Sabo and Ace waving to him, a song or exciting yelling, that’s what he was expecting.

Never could he have imagined a shivering Sabo with his pale blue feathered wings wrapped around an Ace whose tail was **out**.

All Marco could see was bone. Stark white, thin, and not supposed to be there, bone.

**Officially the last fucking line.**

Marco was only gone for a few days, a week at the most, so arriving to the horrific sight of what looked like a dead Sabo and Ace? Not something he was expecting in the least.

The first mate threw his stuff to the side and ran to the cage, ripping the door open without even thinking about unlocking. Idly he wondered why the two hadn’t tried to escape together, but maybe they both had simply gotten attached.

Entirely beside the point though.

He placed his two fingers on the side of the neck of Ace’s neck, pleading for a pulse.

When he felt the weak but slightly steady thump thump thump of blood pulsing through the blood stream of the Gorgόna’s body, he couldn’t help but let out a huge sigh.

Looking up at Sabo, Marco was shocked again to see the male harpy blinking slowly, his head tilted down, body shaking subtly in what seemed to be cold.

“Sabo?”

It took a while for the other blond to respond, his eyes still blinking slowly, his mouth opening slightly as he turned to look at Marco more fully.

“M-m-ma-a-ar-marc-c-c-c-o-marco?” Sabo’s teeth were chattering something fierce, and Marco yelled for some blankets and something warm.

“What happened, yoi? What’s wrong with you? And Ace, yoi? What’s wrong with Ace?!”

Marco was hard to shatter, hard to confuse, hard to shock, but the two Mythicals did things to the first mate that other people didn’t. It was both annoying and hot as hell.

“C-co-c-c-col-cold. I-i-it-it-it’s c-c-co-co-c-c-cold.” Sabo stuttered out, his eyes closing slowly but not opening again. Marco was worried.

“Here, Marco, fleece blanket.” Thatch’s voice knocked Marco out of his fear, and he grabbed the blanket from his chef brother and wrapped the two Mythicals up in it tightly.

“Body heat, too. Don’t forget body heat darling.” Izou’s voice was soothing and filled with some rather smart advice.

The first mate just nodded, ripping his shirt off in a smooth move, opening the blanket and joining the two Mythicals underneath it. Marco wrapped Ace up in his arms, pressing the Gorgόna’s back to his own chest.

Sabo let out a light coo, eyes still blinking slowly, and cuddled into Marco’s warmth. It was important moments like this that he really loved the fact that he tended to run higher than normal.

“Someone build a fire, yoi!”

Marco squeezed them both closer to his body, trying to share as much as his body heat as he possibly could, but the sight of **bones** where Ace’s normally fiery tail was scared the fuck out of him. It was like a long rib cage, no muscles, just bone that went from thick ear his hips to narrower where his fins were supposed to be.

“M-mm-marc-marco…A-a-a-ace f-f-f-fi-fire…i-i-in.” Sabo tried to speak again, his words coming out fragmented and slow, but Marco just pulled him in tighter and wrapped the blanket more firmly around the three of them.

But Sabo pushed the first mate away for some reason, Marco made a noise of negativity, but the harpy kept on pushing.

“N-n-no. A-a-ce, f-f-f-fire, pu-pu-put i-i-in.”

The first mate was very confused. Did Sabo want Marco to put the Gorgόna in the fire the others were building? What would that do?

“I need to put Ace in the fire, yoi?”

Obviously that was what the harpy was trying to convey because he started to nod his head jerkily, still cold but also wanting to communicate the best he could.

After that though it seemed like Sabo had no more energy, as he just curled up tighter into Marco’s open and welcoming arms.

“The fire is done, Marco, move a little closer.” Izou’s voice caressed his ears slightly, and the blond stood, holding a Mythical in each arm as he did. Sabo whined as the cold air hit his body and his feathers. However he did have enough energy to wrap his wings around Marco’s neck as he moved.

The scary thing was the fact that Ace didn’t make a single sound. Not a grunt, not a moan, not a light scream, nothing. It wasn’t something that he expected of a Mythical like Ace who was constantly making a noise of some sort.

With care and maneuvering worthy of a ninja, Marco stepped his way through concerned crewmates and made for the nicely sized fire Izou had started.

Sabo made a slight whine with ever step, and there was nothing Marco could do to stop the soothing sounds that came from his own mouth in response to the pain the other was going through.

After throwing Ace in the fire, Marco would focus on warming up the harpy, maybe find him a coat that they could cut the sleeves off of for the beautiful wings. That might keep him warm enough for them to make it out of the cold island’s pull.

“Oi, Thatch, tell the navigators to move us away from the winter islands, yoi. Tell them to head towards a summer one!” Marco yelled out, distracted from everything but the two in his arms and how he could save them from the cold.

“But we need supplies commander!”

“You can’t just extend our trip by four more days!”

“More days means rationing!”

“Rationing fucking sucks commander!”

“Did I ask for your fucking opinion, yoi?!”

The crew all jumped back, surprised at the harshness in their first commander’s voice, something they had only ever heard from him when he was talking to an enemy.

“Ace and Sabo could be fucking dying. And all you care about is fucking rations, about making your lives a little less comfortable, yoi. Stop being fucking assholes!” Marco cursed at them, his arms shaking as he held the two Mythicals close.

All of the Whitebeards had the decency to look ashamed as Izou ran off to the navigation room, telling them to change course for warmer climate.

Marco started when Thatch laid his hand on his should, almost shocking him into dropping both Mythicals into the blazing reds.

“I think you are close enough to fire there, bro. You can warm them up from here.”

But the first mate shrugged his brother off, ignoring what would normally be good advice, but Sabo told Marco to put Ace into the fire, so Marco was damn well going to put the Gorgόna in the fire. If Ace’s **brother** said that that was what was needed to get his tail going, then that was what Marco was going to trust.

Brothers often times knew best.

It was why Marco always told his siblings what to do, but that was more due to life experiences than actual knowledge. But like hell he was going to give away his secret.

“Wait, Marco, what are you doing?” Thatch’s voice rose higher, but Marco ignored it, especially the alarm that was present in his tone. All he needed to do was put Ace into the fire. He would be fine then and not almost dead.

“Marco! Stop!”

This time the yelling came with another hand, but Marco slapped it away and glared at his red-haired brother. Ace’s life was more important than any scrupulous feelings Thatch may or may not have had.

It was none of his business anyway. Sabo and Ace were **his** responsibilities. **His**.

Without even pausing to think of what this would look like, Marco turned back to the hot blaze and took a single step closer. Hauling Ace up just a little further until he was even with the tallest part of the flames, Marco took a deep breath.

“Παρακαλώ. (Please.)”

The whispered word in _Mythikós_ was the only one that Sabo and Ace had taught him, a prayer to the _All-One_ for kindness, or hope, or anything really. And if there was any time Marco would ever need the whispered word, it was now.

One more deep breath, Sabo’s steadying presence to one side, and the Mythical the first mate needed to save on the other. Marco made to place the Gorgóna into the blaze but a hiss from Sabo had him stopping that action.

“D-don’t. H-hurt. S-s-sel-self. T-t-t-toss.”

“I’m not just going to toss him into the fire, Sabo, yoi.” Marco responded to the harpy with a completely deadpan voice, looking at his blond companion like he had an extra head or two.

“You’re not putting anyone in the fire, Marco!! Stop being so stubborn!” Thatch’s voice was both unwanted and annoying, so the first mate decided not to even warn him away again, or even acknowledge his presence. Marco was a bit busy have both a verbal and non-verbal conversation with a freezing dumb harpy.

“T-toss. Nnnn-ot. Hur-hur-hurt.”

“I don’t care if it won’t hurt him, yoi. I’m not tossing him!”

“D-di-di-die. N-nee-need. Ffff-fi-fire.”

“That’s why I am going to **place** Ace into the fire.”

“Nnnnno. Hh-hurt. Ssss-se-self.”

“I’ll be fire, Sabo. Don’t worry about me, yoi.”

“Ssss-stu-stupid.”

The blue eyes’ glaring into his own was what really had Marco saying fuck it and giving into the harpy’s demands. For a harpy that was good at talking he also had expressive fucking eyes.

“Fine. But if he gets mad at me it’s on your head, yoi.” Marco huffed out, and Sabo answered with a broken chuckle, but it was an improvement on his previous almost cathartic state, so that had to count for something.

One more deep breath, and no whispered prayer this time, and Marco **tossed** Ace into the almost large bonfire burning on the deck.

There were gasps and shouts of shock from many different places around the ship, the loudest being from Thatch just behind Marco.

He really wanted to watch the process of Ace absorbing the fire, or whatever the hell he was doing in the flames, but that was kind of interrupted by a good right hook that connected to Marco’s cheek.

Stopping yourself in midair is a talent that Marco unfortunately did not possess, so he crashed right into the deck, just in time to hear and loud, odd-sounding moan.

Marco’s head snapped to the side, to where the fire and the Gorgóna were, Sabo doing much the same only at a slower rate from his side.

The sight was both breathtakingly beautiful and unfairly ethereal.

Ace was **writhing** in the flames. Body twisting and contorting and displaying every single muscle present in his torso as he did so. The bone tail was flailing, slapping back and forth on the deck as the fire spread for a second before being almost sucked into the position of Ace’s tail. The more he squirmed and slapped his tail, the more like his old self the Gorgóna started to look.

Sobs from his side snapped Marco’s attention from the beautiful sight of Ace practically reviving to the harpy that was still clearly a mess.

The blond Mythical was crying and trying to form words but nothing that made sense actually came out of his mouth, just moans, groans, and the odd word or two that actually sounded like real words. Marco strained his ears just to pick those strange instances up.

“Th-thank. _All-One_. Than-k thank. _Aaall-Ooone._ ”

Well Marco wasn’t about to begrudge the smaller male his thanks. Especially not since it was his brother that **almost just died**. The first mate would probably be in a similar state if such a situation had happened to him instead of Sabo.

“Get some more fuel for the fire, yoi!” Marco yelled out to all his stunned crewmates, wanting to keep the bonfire going until they were safely out of the winter island’s pull, a good day or two if they paddled strongly enough.

“Pile it up next to Ace, we need to keep that fire going until we are safe out of the island’s pull!” Marco looked to Sabo as he yelled the next order out. He needed to move the harpy below deck. It was not only warmer down there, but was protected from the elements.

“Will you be alright in my rooms during the nights, Sabo, yoi?”

The blond looked shocked at the question and looked like he was about to answer with a firm and hard no, when Marco amended his statement again.

“I promise that during the day you can sit with Ace all you want, and at night I’ll sit with him, yoi. I won’t let him be alone, okay?”

Sabo blinked slowly again, like he was trying to think and process at the same time, and Marco waited patiently. He needed to get both Mythicals into a safe environment, whether the harpy agreed or not, one way or another, Marco was going to put Sabo in his room.

But it looked like he didn’t need to resort to nasty methods or anything underhanded, because Sabo just nodded in confirmation before he slipped into a sleep that Marco would have been worried about if it weren’t for the smile on that young face.

This time Marco didn’t even try to stop the damn sigh from escaping as he slumped down next to Ace’s blaze, smiling slightly when the Gorgóna rolled over to be a bit closer to the other two.

If this was before, the first mate would be questioning his own sanity, for being so attracted to two very different Mythicals, two very different **brothers**. But he really couldn’t help it.

There were aspects of both brothers that Marco universally adored, and he could no longer see his life without either of them in it. It was quite a big stretch from finding them a necessity and a means to an end for Pops’ continued health.

It was definitely going to be much more difficult to hold anything over Ace and Sabo’s head when Marco could hardly bare seeing anything bad happen to them. This was just a sign that he could never be like those other pirates, that kidnap Mythicals with no care about their well-being. It made no sense to Marco…

Mythicals were just as capable as living as humans were, so who were the humans to think that they could dictate a whole race and subclass of people? That was both arrogant and stupid of them.

And dammit he was rambling to himself. This is what stressful situations do to him, they make him do stupid shit and think about things that had no relation to anything.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

The soothing voice shocked the shit right out of Marco and he couldn’t stop himself from jumping a little and clutching Sabo closer to his body in surge of protective instinct.

A look to the side revealed the now awake and much livelier Gorgóna swishing his tail in the fire as he laid stomach down, staring at Marco with wide eyes and an uneasy grin.

“Never ever do that ever again. My heart can’t take shocks like that, yoi.”

Ace let out a huff of a laugh, but that was enough for Marco, just hearing the sound lifted his spirits quite a bit.

“Surprising you? Or slowly dying of cold exposure while you were gone?”

Marco glared at his Gorgóna with fierce eyes, not appreciating the alluding to Ace’s possible death.

“Either. Don’t do fucking either. You aren’t allowed to die, yoi.”

Another laugh ripped its way out of Ace’s throat, and this time Marco smiled in response to the sound. No use staying over something he can’t change.

“I’ll do my best, Marco, but I already made that promised Luffy that I wouldn’t die, so I won’t die.” The way Ace just said that all nonchalantly when he really was so close to death made Marco laugh loudly instead. The irony was undeniable and funny as hell.

“It doesn’t matter much, yoi. I’ll protect you and Sabo anyway.”

The wide eyes that Ace threw him was enough to keep Marco’s dreams well populated for a few nights, and his smile just widened.

But then the Gorgóna bit his lip with his way too sharp teeth and suddenly Marco couldn’t help but think that he had crossed some line somewhere without thinking about it. Were Gorgóna offended by offering protection? Or by stating it? Did he make **another** foot in mouth situation?

Of course, Ace decided to continue being the surprise that he was and said something that Marco wasn’t prepared for in the least.

“I think I get why Luffy may have liked you so much.”

A few long blinks of his own had Marco opening and closing his mouth with different starts to a conversation that he didn’t know how to have. Finally he just settled on “Oh?”

“Mmhmm. I guess I can also see why he wanted to lead y’all to the fountain.”

“We just want to have more time with our old man, yoi. Nothing else.”

Human and Gorgóna both looked off into the ocean, the now midmorning sun dying the ocean into a myriad of blues and greens. The sight was beautiful but Marco couldn’t help but think that there conversation was only half finished.

“Merpeople don’t know the way to the Fountain of Youth.”

And once again, Ace strikes with something Marco was not nor ever could expect. What did he mean merpeople didn’t know the way to the Fountain? If they didn’t know then why were humans so keen on catching them for the past hundred or so years?

“What, yoi?”

“Nope. I mean, you need a merperson after you get there, but no non-extinct Mythical knows where the Fountain is.” Ace was speaking calmly, like they were talking about the weather and not about a plave Marco had been looking for, for almost six years.

“You mean to tell us that the last six years of our sailing was a complete waste?”

Marco tried very hard to not be heart broken, to not be utterly smashed at the idea that there was no feasible way to extend his father’s life. But with Mythicals like Ace around, who needed pick-me-ups?

“I wouldn’t say it was wasted. You met Luffy.”

“Sure, that’s all well and good, Ace. But if Luffy can’t lead us to the Fountain then the past six years **were** a complete waste.” Marco didn’t want to hear any of Ace’s platitudes. Not after that bomb.

“No, Marco, you don’t understand-”

“What don’t I understand?! Sure Luffy is a great kid, and he lead to you and Sabo and y’all are great too, but we spent **six** years trying to extend Pops’ life! No matter what we might have gained it was still a waste!”

Marco probably would have continued yelling at his friend, but a warm slap by what seemed to be a tendril of flames stopped him in his tracks.

“I said no non-extinct Mythical knows the way to the Fountain.” Ace said again, his youthful face uncharacteristically serious, and Marco knew he was trying to convey something or other by repeating the message but Marco had no idea what he meant.

“Last I checked…”

Marco watched Ace silently as he rose up a bit, the fire from the bonfire feeding him and surrounding him and making him seem like a devil straight from hell.

“Gorgónas are on the list of extinct Mythicals.”

**Author's Note:**

> (1) The All-One is this universe's version of God.  
> (2) The Forgotten Race is a name given to the Gorgonas because of the fact that humans have been hunting them for a long time, and they were thought to be extinct long ago (but they lived on for a few more generations, hence the name) 
> 
> Disclaimer: I DO NOT KNOW GREEK!! I SHAMELESSLY USED GOOGLE TRANSLATE!! SO IF YOU NOTICE ANYTHING WRONG PLEASE HELP ME FIX IT SO I DON'T MISREPRESENT A LANGUAGE!! THANK YOU!!
> 
> See you next time, cause like fuck this piece is (completely) done...prologues baby :P


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